


Fire and Steel

by Moyasu



Series: The Grand Champion [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 14:10:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 35,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14750366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moyasu/pseuds/Moyasu
Summary: Frita (OC) and Steven Stone seek the Origins of Mega Evolution and go on an adventure in Kalos with Marin, Alain, Lysandre and others!





	1. Fiery Beginnings

_ Note: This is a fanfic about Steven Stone and an OC of mine named Frita Warmhart. It takes place after the events of the Mega Evolution Special 3 anime episode. _

_ ~Moyasu-Chan _

* * *

 

Steven sighed. He was still bothered by what had happened with Groudon and Kyogre, though he didn't want to show it in front of Marin. The young girl was perched on the edge of a seat, looking out the window of Steven's plane. She turned to look at him.

 

"What's the matter Steven?"

 

The Chespin perched on her lap perked up when she spoke. "Pin pin, ches?" Steven shook his head. "It's nothing." His bold faced lie seemed to satisfy her for the moment and he retreated back into his thoughts. Before boarding the plane he had sent Metagross to HER for a good rest and a nice polishing.

 

He sighed again. He knew she wouldn't be happy. She was the kind of woman who liked to keep in contact with people frequently, and he hadn't so much as sent her a text for a solid two months.  _ 'Maybe if I'm lucky she won't try to murder me. I should really have brought her into all this though. She probably knows more about Mega Evolution than I do.' _

 

He hoped that sending her Metagross would ease her mood and give them a way of starting conversation. He knew that whenever he sent her a Pokémon to polish she would inevitably hunt him down to return it in person. He wondered if she knew about his research into Mega Evolution. _ 'Who am I kidding? Wallace probably ranted to her about everything. That loudmouth. Sometimes I fail to see the benefit of staying friends with him.' _ Steven shook his head to clear it just as the pilot reported that they were about to land.

 

The plane hovered neatly into position over a helipad and landed smoothly. Steven and Marin walked straight onto the roof of Lysandre Labs. They had finally made it to Kalos. Lysander greeted them after two steps in the door, accompanied by Alain. "Greetings, Champion. Welcome to Lysandre Labs."

 

Meanwhile, Alain was staring at Marin in disbelief and disapproval. "What are you doing here?" Marin's cheeks puffed out in a pout and she crossed her arms. "Steven gave me a ride back." Steven turned at the mention of his name, but dismissed the quarreling teens and returned his attention to Lysandre. "Have you learned anything from the Giant Rock?" Lysandre nodded. "Follow me."

 

Lysandre led Steven to a large room with a big computer monitor. 'I still have a hard time getting past how tall he is.' Steven mused. The man was at least a good foot taller than Steven, who was of average height for a man his age. "This is a scan of the energy produced by the Giant Rock," Lysandre spoke as he pulled an image up on the monitor of a series of energy waves. "And this is an energy reading we pulled from the Sundial in Anistar City."

 

Steven started in surprise. "They're nearly identical. Then the Sundial must have something to do with Mega Evolution!" Lysandre nodded. "I thought precisely the same thing. I was planning to investigate. You're more than welcome to join, if it interests you." Steven nodded excitedly. "It certainly does!"

 

In about an hour, they were looking up at the Sundial in Anistar City. "It's much more massive than I expected." Steven stated. "What's it made of?" Lysandre turned to him. "No one in Kalos seems to be able to determine that." Steven frowned, looking up at the pink multifaceted mineral. It had a large circular gold inlay and reminded him of pink colored ice in terms of shape. "Interesting...I'd like to get a closer look, but that isn't possible at the moment."

 

Marin, who had tagged along with Alain, looked at him in confusion. "What about Metagross? It floats right?" Alain sighed. "It doesn't float, it levitates using Psychic power." Marin glared at him. "It's the same thing!" Steven chuckled at their little spat. "You're right," he raised his voice to get their attention. "Unfortunately, Metagross isn't with me right now."

 

Both Alain and Marin looked at him in surprise. "Where is it?" Marin questioned. Steven took a breath. "I sent it to a friend of mine. After all that happened and Metagross' hard work, I thought it could use a nice rest." Marin nodded. "Wow. That must be a pretty good friend to leave Metagross with them!" Steven nodded. "Yes she-" His sentence cut off with a grunt as he took a sudden weight. He turned to see a woman with red hair. It was her. "Is climbing on my back like a Mankey. Get off me!" He turned in a circle with the woman on his back, piggyback style.

 

She laughed and he gave her a stern look. She sighed. "Fine. You're such a stick in the mud." She leaned against his shoulder as he fixed his suit jacket back into place. "And you're overbearing with no concept of personal space. As usual." She threw him a pouty look. "You're such a jerk sometimes. I was beginning to think you didn't like me anymore! You never write, you never call…and then Metagross shows up with a sticky note on it's forehead that says 'Polish Me' with a smiley face. Honestly, Steven."

 

Steven rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I, yeah. Sorry." The woman let out a huff. She was about 3 or 4 years younger than Steven (around 21 or 22), with peachy skin and red hair so bright it was practically orange. It was pulled back into an updo that resembled Ho-oh's tail with two long strands that hung down on either side of her face and a mop of bangs swept to one side. She had bright green eyes and was wearing a red bandeau top with a pair of flared leg jeans, a pair of black boots with 2 inch heels, a large black belt with a big sun shaped buckle, fingerless gloves, and a long dark red coat.

 

She peered at Steven accusingly. "What exactly have you been doing this whole time?" Steven's eyes widened.  _ 'Did Wallace keep his mouth shut for once?' _ "If you must know," he puffed his chest out proudly. "I was studying the origins of Mega Evolution." The woman's eyes lit up. "Oooh," she swooned, leaning on his chest and looking up at him. "Do tell." He couldn't resist her smile and recounted all of the prior events to her. "Interesting." She looked up at the megalith they stood in front of. Steven couldn't read her expression.

 

"So," Steven turned to see Lysandre speaking. He had nearly forgotten the others were there. "This is a friend of yours I take it?" Steven nodded bashfully. "Yes. This is Frita. Frita, this is Lysandre, Marin, and Alain." Frita nodded to each of them. "It's nice to meet you." Lysandre bowed then extended his hand. Frita shook it, smiling up at the large man. With her boots, she was taller than Steven but not by much, and Lysandre still towered above her. And yet…she seemed perfectly comfortable addressing him. It was as though they were seeing eye to eye. Frita's relaxed stance never changed as she greeted each person in turn.

 

"So you polish Pokémon?" Marin smiled up at her. "Marin!" Alain scolded her. Frita cut him off before he could say more. "Yes, I do. I own a lot of Pokémon and I've traveled all over the world and met lots of people who taught me lots of things." She smirked. "Speaking of Pokémon…" She took a ball from her pocket and tossed it into the air. Steven's Shiny Metagross emerged from it. However, it was even more radiant than usual. Even in the dim near sunset light, it glistened like a diamond and shimmered when it moved. **"Met-ta!"**

 

It immediately jumped on Frita, using its Psychic powers to mold dirt into the shape of hearts that floated around the two of them. Frita laughed, and hefted the Pokémon with one arm, earning shocked looks from everyone but Steven. She kissed Metagross on the forehead and hugged it. "Aw. I love you too." She put Metagross down, who turned to greet Steven in a much more restrained and proper manner. "So," Steven looked up at her, rubbing Metagross' faceplate affectionately. "What do you think the connection between this," he gestured at the Sundial, "and Mega Evolution is?" Frita laughed. "Oh sweetie, I figured that out a while ago."

 

She took something out of her pocket. It was a piece of Cameruptite, and a few seconds later when the sun went down, the large rings in the Sundial plaza began to rotate. As the rings began to spin faster and faster, a glowing energy formed in the center of the Sundial.

 

Then, Frita's piece of Cameruptite, and Metagross' Metagrossite, began to gently glow…


	2. Lysandre's Warning

As Frita's Cameruptite began to glow brighter and brighter, the others began to crowd around her. Lysandre turned to look back at the Sundial. "Fascinating. But, why does this megalith cause Mega Stones to glow?" Frita chuckled and looked up at him. "Because, this thing was used to locate Mega Stones in ancient Kalos." Lysandre looked at her in surprise.

 

Frita looked up at the large pink crystal. "It resonates with the energy produced by the Mega Stones. And it would probably resonate with the energy produced by the Giant Rock, but I have no idea what kind of effect that would produce. In any case, it probably isn't safe to test that with so many people around." Steven frowned. "Then, how would we go about testing such a thing?" Frita put an arm around his shoulders. "I'm not sure, but standing around here isn't going to make it come to you!" Her stomach growled. "Besides, I'm STARVING! I have a house here in the city that I use when I visit Kalos. We can think it over more there." Steven groaned and gave her an exasperated look. She winked at him, "And more importantly, I can cook something yummy!"

 

Steven was about to protest when his own stomach growled hungrily and he blushed.  _ 'When was the last time he ate something...?' _ Frita wondered to herself. Marin bounced up before more could be said and happily exclaimed, "I'm hungry too!" Alain groaned and facepalmed. "Marin..." He reminded Frita of an older brother ready to drag his embarrassing little sister away before she could blurt anything else out. She laughed and smiled at Alain as his stomach grumbled as well. "That's 4 stomachs out of 5 that say:  _ 'Onward to food!' _ . I'd say majority vote wins. Besides," she paused and looked around. People were staring at her and beginning to whisper to one another.  _ 'That's definitely not just because we're standing here with a 8 and a half foot tall monster of a man. I wonder how many crazed fans have posted pictures so far? If we don't duck out of sight soon, I'll get hugged flatter than a Stunfisk'  _ She glanced at Lysandre before continuing, "I tend to be a bit popular when I'm out in public. It would be much easier for all of us if we could continue away from prying eyes." Frita glanced around again. There were a few people holding pens now. "And the occasional crazy Autograph Houndour," she mumbled.

 

Lysandre agreed and soon enough they were standing in Frita's beachfront home. It was warm this time of year, and more than comfortable. Steven proceeded to make himself right at home, removing his shoes by the front door and disappearing into one of the side rooms. The other three guests looked around Frita's house quizzically. Her house was quite unconventional, with one large central room that housed a large table with several chairs and a kitchen. The oddest part was that the back of it was completely open to what looked like a beachfront garden. The front was pretty average, with a gated wall, but with the back of the house open to the beach things seemed to completely undermine it. There was an odd set of stairs in one corner of the room that disappeared into the ceiling, and the garden had a large Ekans-like pool with several flowering plants around it. Frita flicked a switch and lights came on all around the house.

 

Marin pulled her shoes up and ran up to the garden pool to peer inside. Alain reached out a hand to try to stop her, but he missed her by a hair and had to catch up with her. "Marin! You can't just run around other people's houses!" Frita laughed and waved a hand as Alain looked at her in confusion. "Don't be so tough on her! It's fine, make yourselves at home." She began to pull her boots off as Marin let out an excited squeak. "Whoa!" Lysandre and Alain peered over her shoulder to see what she was looking at. The bottom of the pool was covered in about a dozen Slowpoke. All at once they surfaced and jumped out of the pool, which was unusual for most Slowpoke.  **"Poke!"** They all called out at once and swarmed Frita, tails wagging and faces warm with delight. Frita laughed and petted all of them in turn. "Well, hello! You've been taking good care of the house I see!" The last Slowpoke to reach her was larger than the rest, and considerably slower. "Poke," it called, tail wagging. "There you are Pokey!" Frita scooped him up as if he was light as a feather and held him in one arm.

 

"That's a lot of Slowpoke!" Alain was looking at them all. He looked a little confused as to why they were in the house to begin with. "It certainly is." Steven had returned. He was dressed far more casually than before, and sported an ordinary pair of jeans with a good bit of wear to them and a white t-shirt. He had his hands in his pockets and stooped to pet one of the Slowpoke. "What exactly are they here for, if I may ask?" Frita turned to address Lysandre as she answered his question. "They're my Slowpoke Security System!" At the funny looks she received, Frita elaborated. "They protect my house from vandals and other unwanted guests. All of these Slowpoke know Confusion or Psychic and they're all wild except Pokey here." She hugged the Slowpoke in her arms. "They protect the house and in return, they get food and a comfy place to stay. It's a win, win." Alain was looking at her like she was crazy. "But why Slowpoke?" As he asked the question, Frita turned her attention to a dark figure behind the boy. Whoever it was, they were walking casually through her garden. She snapped her fingers and the Slowpoke came to attention almost immediately. They all used Confusion and there was a sudden squeak of alarm from the figure. "Whoa! No! Put me down! Frita!"

 

The figure was flying through the air and was eventually flung into the pool. He came up coughing and spluttering and Frita started as she recognized him.  _ 'Aw crap. I'm gonna get an earful for this one.'  _ Frita grumbled and dragged the guy out of the pool. He was pathetically light, even sopping wet Frita outweighed him. She sighed and hauled him into the house. He huddled on the floor, shivering. "Friiiitaaa!" She groaned at his whiny tone and ran a hand through her hair. "Why did you do that? You did it on purpose, didn't you?! You're ALWAYS picking on me! It isn't fair!" Frita glared at him. "Keith, this was your own fault you dummy! You were the one sneaking around my house like a creep! How was I suppose to know that was you? And I've told you more than once to come inside from the front door and not the beach!"

 

The man huddled in front of them was ridiculously thin and lanky. He had shaggy black hair and bright blue eyes, with a beauty mark under his left eye. He was dressed in a black t-shirt, black jeans, a pair of black boots with electric blue trim, a black coat with electric blue faux fur trim, and dark red biker gloves. A sliver chain hung from one of his belt loops and attached to another around his waist. A silver music note charm hung from it. He was handsome, that was for sure, and his skin was fairly pale. He was shivering uncontrollably and his teeth were chattering despite the warm weather. Frita frowned at him. "You're such a baby. It's not like I threw you in paint or something. It's just water." Keith glared up at her. "You're so mean to me!" His teeth chattered between words and he gave her his biggest blue puppy-dog eyes.  _ 'I can't believe I'm falling for this. Whatever, he's my best friend so I guess I can't let him "freeze". Plus I'd have to listen to at least an hour's worth of whining if I don't'  _ Frita groaned and pulled him to his feet, then pushed him into one of the side rooms and threw a towel in after him. "I've got a couple pairs of your emergency clothes in there. You should by fine." She slammed the door behind him and sighed. Frita shook her head and got to work in the kitchen, and in 20 minutes everyone was gathered around the table devouring a chicken casserole and downing iced tea.

 

"So," Steven said between bites, "how do you propose we test the resonance between the Sundail and the Giant Rock?" Frita sat back in her chair to think. "Well, you could chip off a piece of the Sundial, or a piece of the Giant Rock, and bring them to the opposing megalith." Ultimately, that seemed to be the best option after a long debate between Frita and Steven on how it could be accomplished via other methods. Frita watched Lysandre carefully the whole time, as he had stayed silent and watched the two speaking. She couldn't read his expression, and it bothered her.  _ 'I didn't just come for Steven. The League told me to watch this Lysandre guy carefully, and there's something about him I don't like.'  _ Frita was broken out of her thoughts by a question by Marin.

"So why are you so popular around town? I noticed a bunch of people staring at us when we were by the Sundial." Frita snickered a little. "Well, it probably has something to do with me being the Pokemon League Grand Champion. I'm the strongest Trainer there is at the moment. I'm also the one who approved all the current Regional Champions when they replaced the former Champions." As Marin looked at her in awe, there was a sudden spluttering and coughing. Steven, Frita, and Marin turned to see both Alain and Lysandre half choking on their drinks. Lysandre thumped his chest with a fist a few times before regaining his composure. "I wasn't aware we were in the presence of such an important League figure. My apologies for not being more respectful, Grand Champion." Frita's eyes narrowed, but she simply shook her head. "I hate it when people act all stuffy around me. Seriously, relax." After a few more hours of chatting, Frita offered to let them all stay in the extra rooms she had there in the house. Keith whined excessively when she exiled him to the fold out futon in the main room, but even he settled down after a while. Eventually, only Frita and Lysandre were still awake. She had poured him an actual drink, he had said he preferred scotch to the iced tea she had served earlier. He was standing at the front of the garden, staring down at the water in the pool. There were a few Slowpoke asleep at his feet. Frita came to stand next to him. "You know," he started, his voice much lower than before, "this planet is quickly running out of space."

Frita frowned, confused by his sudden comment.  _ 'Where in Arceus' name did that come from?'  _ "What do you mean?" She watched him with narrowed eyes. "There isn't enough room on this planet for all the creatures that live on it. Resources will become scarce soon." He turned to look at her. "Eventually, it will come to a battle between us, and them," he gestured toward the sleeping Pokemon. Frita shook her head. "No. We'll find a way around that. We always do. Humanity is more flexible than you give it credit for." Lysandre shook his head. "And here I expected you to be smart. What a fool. There's only one solution to this problem." Frita glared at him. "And what might that be?" Lysandre gave a sad smile. "You really are a fool. Perhaps you'll figure it out after a good night's rest?" He walked away but turned back after a few steps. His orange eyes glinted and eerie silver with the light of the moon. "Goodnight, Grand Champion."


	3. A Mega Challenge

Lysandre hadn't gotten nearly as much sleep as he'd wanted to, and it wasn't just because all of Frita's furniture was too small to accommodate his size. He had been contemplating his conversation with Frita, and it had kept him up. He had been very confident when he had spoken with her, but the more he thought about it, the more he came to realize he was likely underestimating her.  _ 'It's unlikely she is here solely for Steven Stone. It may be possible the League is on to my plans. It's too soon for me to deal with them, I'm not close enough to finding the Ancient Weapon yet. I doubt my "Energy for peaceful means" reason will work on this woman. Especially with my statements earlier. Perhaps I said those things out of a guilty conscience?' _

 

Lysandre shook his head. He had gotten up early due to his inability to fall asleep and had entered the main room. Keith was asleep on the futon. Lysandre was well aware of who he was, as the man was an international rock and pop music sensation. With his Pokémon Band he traveled all over the place and performed, though he had yet to perform in Kalos. _ 'Strange, he and Frita seem quite close. I wonder, how on Earth did those two meet?' _

 

He was still contemplating this when something caught his attention. There was a figure standing on the beach in the milky, pre-dawn light. It looked like Frita. _ 'What is she doing…?' _ He watched Frita as the sun began to peek over the ocean horizon. She had spread her arms wide, and was it just the sunrise, or did she have a slight glow? She stood there until the sun had fully risen, basking in it's light. When she returned, she looked straight at Lysandre, eyeing him warily.

 

He was suddenly caught by her gaze, he could feel it. It was almost as if she was looking into his very soul. Her bright green eyes appeared to be glowing, and a shiver ran down his spine. Finally, he was able to suck in a breath and blinked at her rapidly. She was still staring at him, but her eyes appeared normal. Was it his imagination? She was giving him a bit of a pitied look though. _ 'What in Arceus' name just happened? What did she just do? Or did she do anything at all?' _ His mind raced with a thousand questions.

 

"What...?" He mumbled, unable to latch onto one of the many questions he had. Frita blinked at him. She looked completely average, and was staring at him with her head tilted to the side in confusion. Her eyes were narrowed in suspicion as well. "Are you ok?" She waved a hand in front of his face when he didn't answer. Lysandre shook his head to clear it. "Yes I'm…fine. I fear I may have been…sleepwalking, of sorts." Frita looked skeptical, but shrugged.

 

Despite their conversation the night before, Frita still treated him in a civil manner, and even made him a cup of coffee. She also made an entire carton's worth of scrambled eggs, a mountain of bacon, and a large amount of toast. The smell woke Keith, and Steven as well, both of them diving right in as Frita brought Lysandre a plate. As he finished it, Keith plopped back down on the bed and Steven yawned and went back into his room. He failed to close the door so Lysandre could see he had chosen to go back to sleep as well.

 

Just as he was wondering what the point of getting up just to eat was, Frita asked if he wanted more food. He declined, and his eyes widened as she tucked into the food. The plates were clear in a matter of minutes.  _ 'How…?! Is it even possible for the average human to eat that much?!' _ It then occurred to him that she wasn't exactly average.

 

He spent the rest of the early morning sipping his coffee before informing Frita that he was going to the city council to ask permission to chip a piece off the Sundial. It took less time than he expected, and the only stipulation was that he give them a shard so they could examine it to find what the Sundial was made of.

 

Before long, he was handing the Sundial fragment to one of his most trusted Lab workers. Her name was Lainey and she had short, blonde curly hair and glasses. "You know what we plan to do, Lainey. Here is the fragment from the Sundial. I expect you to take exceptional care of it." Lainey nodded. "Yes sir, of course." She took the Sundial fragment and fitted it into a complicated machine as Lysandre walked away.

 

What he didn't see, was that she also stuck a small pink dot to the surface of the crystal. She looked down at a tablet after Lysandre had left. It was showing a radar pinging a signal close by. "Perfect. Here's hoping this goes as planned." She pushed her glasses up her nose as she walked away.

 

Lysandre felt awkward about simply letting himself into Frita's home, but that was replaced by surprise and confusion when he entered. Steven was flailing wildly as Frita had him in a headlock. "Let…go!" Frita shook her head. "Oh no, you brought this on yourself, Stevie." Alain was sitting in a chair, shaking his head. Clearly he had better things to spend his time on. Marin was trying to hold back a giggle and Keith was snickering. Lysandre cleared his throat loudly. Frita turned to look at him then released Steven, who sucked in a breath and coughed a few times, and gave him her full attention

 

"I'm not going to ask what I just missed, but we managed to obtain a fragment of the Sundial. It's currently at Lysandre Labs, undergoing testing." Steven looked a little flustered. "My apologies for not being more involved. I didn't want to intrude too much, and I was certain you could handle getting the shard on your own." Lysandre shook his head. "No need to apologize. You were right, obtaining the fragment was more than easy enough on my own." Lysandre's attention flickered to Marin as something near her moved. It was then that he noticed she was sitting on an Arcanine that was lounging on the floor. It was a little above average for it's size, and appeared to be in very good condition

 

"That's your Pokémon, I take it?" Frita nodded at his question. "Yup. That's Archaic. She's especially friendly," Frita put a hand up to cover one side of her face, "honestly she would let anyone do anything so long as she gets petted." The last part was a whisper. Lysandre couldn't help but chuckle as Marin petted the Pokémon and her tail thumped loudly against the floor. "Are Fire Types perhaps your favorite Pokémon?" He ventured, turning his attention back to Frita.

 

"That's an understatement." Steven was straightening his shirt. He was now wearing a white t-shirt with jeans and a brown leather jacket. His Mega Stickpin was stuck in the collar. Frita glared at him, "Don't make me put you back in a headlock." Frita turned on him and stomped toward him with one foot. Steven rapidly jumped back, wary. Frita laughed and pointed a finger at him. "Gotcha!" He glared at her and turned away. "And yes," Frita turned back to Lysandre, "I love Fire Type Pokémon.

 

"As I thought. Were you maybe aware that Alain has a Charizard? Or that it Mega Evolves?" He had expected Frita to be excited, or maybe pleased, but the look she gave was completely different. _ 'Is that…disdain? She said she loved Fire Type Pokémon though. I was hoping something like this might put me on better terms with her. Perhaps I was mistaken.' _ Frita's voice cut into his thoughts. "Oh does he now? I wasn't aware of that." Frita looked over her shoulder at Alain. He walked straight up to her and looked her in the eye. "Do you have any Pokémon that Mega Evolve?" Frita narrowed her eyes. "Oh I have several. Why do you ask?" Alain searched her gaze. "I want to beat every Mega Evolved Pokémon and stand at the summit.”

 

Frita looked him over carefully. "That's a lofty goal. You'll have to beat me to do that." Alain nodded. "Then I will," he stated flatly. Frita let out a condescending snort. "Easier said than done. Even Stevie can't beat me, and that's when I'm NOT using Mega Evolved Pokémon...and he IS." Lysandre started in surprise.  _ 'I knew she was Grand Champion, but to be able to best Steven Stone without Mega Evolution is certainly a hefty feat. Alain is quite far out of his league with this challenge.' _ But Alain hadn't backed down. "It doesn't matter. I'll never beat you if I don't battle you first." Frita gave a devilish grin. "Fair enough, fair enough. I accept your challenge. I have a Stadium here in Anistar City I use for my Junior Trainer Battle Training. We can use that.

 

In a matter of minutes, they were standing in the Stadium. Lysandre, Steven, and Marin had taken up residence in the Stadium's seating while Alain and Frita stood at opposite ends of the battlefield. "You ready, Dexter?" Frita had plugged her Pokédex into the Stadium's mainframe. A young man in red clothes with read hair, bright blue eyes, and glasses appeared on the Stadium's jumbotron screens. "As I'll ever be, let's get started." Dexter suddenly became tiny, and his full body was visible. He turned and extended an arm, bringing up a battle roster. "This will be a one on one battle between Grand Champion Frita Warmhart and the challenger, Alain. If either side can't continue, the battle is over. Battle, begin!

 

_ 'Her Pokédex has an AI program this sophisticated? I'm impressed.' _ Lysandre watched as Alain let Charizard out of it's Pokéball and Mega Evolved it. A Mega Charizard X icon appeared on his side of the roster. Frita whistled and Lysandre noticed Steven grab the bottom of his seat. Seconds later, a massive black figure shot past the arena. The force from it's passing nearly blew Lysandre out of his seat. Marin let out a squeak as she became airborne, clutching her Chespin tightly. Steven grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. He held his seat with one arm and Marin with the other. The figure shot back over the arena several times before it landed with a massive crash that shook the ground. Well, landed wasn't quite accurate. It more just dropped out of the sky.

 

Lysandre jumped to his feet. "Is that…?!" The figure was hunched over, most of it hidden, but as he spoke it unfurled its massive wings and a large head on a long neck uncurled toward the sky. A massive tail tipped with a blue flame swung wide across the Stadium arena, and a pair of red eyes fixed Alain's Charizard maliciously. Standing before them was a shiny Charizard, except…

 

"It must be three, no four times the size of an average Charizard!" Lysandre exclaimed, barely able to contain his amazement. "It's HUGE!" Marin exclaimed. "There's no way Alain can win against that!" The Charizard let out a roar and blasted a jet of blue flame from it's jaws at the sky. When he brought his head back down, he snorted and smoke poured from his nose like steam. Frita was swinging a pocket-watch in circles with one hand. "Alright Charlie!" She wound the watch chain around her arm until the watch landed in her hand and popped open. She closed it rapidly, her fingers curling over the Keystone set in the front of it. "It's time…to Mega Evolve!" Charlie roared, and glowed brightly. When the Mega Evolution was complete, he stood proudly. He was even bigger than before, and had Mega Evolved into Mega Charizard Y. "That one's different than Alain's Charizard!"

  
It was Marin's excited voice. "Charizard has two forms of Mega Evolution," Steven explained. A Mega Charizard Y icon appeared on Frita's side of the screen. It was accompanied by the word 'Charlie' underneath.  _ 'If she has this kind of power,' _ Lysandre thought, amazed. _ 'It's no wonder she's Grand Champion.' _ Frita stood with her arms crossed as Alain recovered and sent Charizard forward with a Dragon Claw. Frita never moved, or gave a single verbal command…


	4. Over the Edge

**WARNING: So this chapter is a little violent. Please be aware of that. This is probably gonna be the most on the fence chapter, borderline Teen but not close enough that I feel I need to change the story rating. Other than that the rest of the chapters should definitely be K+. Anyways, enjoy and thanks for taking the time to read this story!**

_~Moyasu-Chan_

* * *

 

Before Alain's Charizard could even reach Charlie, it was flung into the air by blades of stone. Charlie had slammed one foot down on the arena, shattering it. With one swing of his massive tail, he flung the Charizard even higher as it was about to come back down. "Charizard!" Alain yelled. Charizard tried to recover, but wasn't nearly fast enough. With a flap of his wings, Charlie was airborne and rocketing toward the smaller Pokémon.

 

Charlie reached it just as it regained its balance, slamming into it hard. With a series of magnificent aerial moves, Charlie swung in circles, battering the other Charizard with harsh blows. "It's so fast!" Alain heard Lysandre yell exactly what he was thinking. He tore his eyes from the grappling Pokémon for a split second.

 

Frita stood at the other end of the broken arena. Her legs were solidly set shoulder length apart and her arms were crossed. Her face was expressionless, and she was staring straight at him. He shuddered under her intense green gaze.  _ 'What am I supposed to do?! Charizard isn't fast enough. I need a plan…' _ An idea came to Alain's mind and he called out. "Charizard! You-!" Before he could finish, Charlie had taken the Pokémon in his massive claws and was shooting straight up with it. He reached a great height in a matter of seconds and spread his wings wide before beginning to fly in a vertical circle.

 

"Alain! It's a Seismic Toss!" Lysandre was yelling to him.  _ 'Seismic Toss?! Charizard can only learn that move through its parents or from a very uncommon TM found in Kanto! Hah!' _ Alain was beginning to internally panic. He couldn't come up with a plan, and as he turned his gaze to Frita he saw her sternly look at him as if to say "I told you this would happen." He looked up to see Charlie rocketing to the ground. He looked desperately to Lysandre and Steven, even Marin. She was trembling uncontrollably.  _ 'She must be terrified. Even I'M terrified.' _

 

And then things seemed to move in slow motion as Charlie hurtled Alain's Charizard at the ground with so much force it knocked the boy off his feet and created an enormous explosion followed by a dust cloud. Alain's vision was swaying and blurry as he looked up to see the dust cloud blown away by Charlie's wings. His Charizard was in a deep crater in the middle of what little was left of the arena floor. Frita hadn't moved an inch.

 

Alain got up and stumblingly ran toward his Pokémon. "Charizard!" His voice sounded so far away and his vision was still shaky. He fell to his knees in front of Charizard and looked up when he heard a distant roar. Charlie was glaring at him maliciously. He could see the Pokémon's pupils were nothing but slits in its red eyes. It lunged at him, mouth agape with sharp teeth. His reaction was so dulled that he couldn't move. Charlie's teeth snapped shut less than an inch from his face and he blinked rapidly in shock. Charlie turned in utter fury. Frita was holding the massive Pokémon back by his tail, and he suddenly turned on her in a flash.

 

Frita's face contorted in surprise and fear for a second before Charlie snapped her up in his jaws. He was holding her by her midsection and flung her from side to side like a Sharpedo. He threw her up in the air before catching her by the arm again and flinging her around like a rag-doll. He threw her again, and Alain turned as he felt someone shaking him. Steven was looking at him in alarm. "Alain, get up! You need to recall Charizard and get out of here!" Alain put the Pokémon back in its ball and shakily got to his feet. He nearly fell again when the ground rumbled beneath them.

 

Charlie had smashed Frita into the arena wall hard enough to leave her embedded in it. Alain stared at her in horror until Steven grabbed him by the arm. Charlie was charging straight at them, letting out a deafening and primal roar. _ 'That thing isn't a Pokémon, it's a monster!' _ Alain turned to run as Charlie reached them. Steven looked up in horror. Alain turned to see a pair of claws slicing straight at him. They froze as Alain heard a scream. Frita was standing behind them, screeching at the sky. Her arms were held halfway up and her hands were balled into fists. Her feet were planted solidly and she brought her head down to glare furiously at her Pokémon. "ENOUGH!"

 

Charlie charged her, intending to take her in his jaws again, but she stopped him cold. She had caught his snout and was holding his head back as he snapped furiously at her. She forced his jaws shut and grabbed his head, though it almost seemed too big for her to.  _ 'She's still alive?!' _ Steven dragged him backward as they began to run again. Frita grunted and lifted Charlie completely off the ground, spinning him until she had him on his back in a half headlock.  **"I SAID ENOUGH!"** Alain hit the ground hard. Steven had pushed him. He heard Steven yell in pain as Charlie's thrashing tail slammed into his side and sent him careening into the arena's far wall. He hit with a heavy thud and lay motionless on the ground.

 

Frita grappled with the struggling Mega Charizard until he couldn't keep his form and reverted to a regular Charizard. She released him immediately and he got up. He looked completely different. His pupils were big and round, and tears welled up in his eyes. He began to weep uncontrollably and Frita sagged to her knees, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. She was gasping for breath and her hair had come loose from it's tie. It poofed around her head in a scattered mess. Her coat was dusty, and the bottoms of her jeans were torn. She had jagged red marks on her stomach, but they weren't actually cuts.

 

She regained her breath and slowly got to her feet, wincing. "You ok?" Alain blinked for a few moments before answering. "Yeah," he pointed to the arena wall, "but, Steven…" He trailed off, still in shock. Frita was by Steven's side in seconds. "Steven?! Steven!" She shook him, his body rolling limply. She shook him again, and again, calling out his name. Alain looked up blankly as a hand thumped his shoulder. It was Lysandre, his eyes wide, Marin clinging to him for dear life. She was trembling horribly and tears were streaming down her cheeks. They all turned as they heard a loud groan. Steven had finally come to. Frita was holding him in a tight hug. "How bad are you hurt?!" Her voice cracked in the middle.

 

Steven was about to reply as Frita released him when he winced loudly and grabbed at his side. He let out a huffing breath and shakily lifted up his shirt. A large, ugly bruise had already started to spread across his skin. He ran his fingers lightly across it and hissed in pain. Frita was looking at him in concern. A loud noise caught their attention and they all turned to look at Charlie. He was sitting on the ground, sobbing heavily and wailing. Frita came to him, patting his foot. He thrust his snout at the ground and she leaned on it. "It's ok, Charlie," she said soothingly, rubbing his nose. After several more comforting words he began to settle down and Frita turned her attention on Steven again. He was leaning on the arena wall for support, and his legs were shaking badly. Frita rushed to catch him as his knees gave out. She caught him under his arms as he crashed to the ground. She hissed quietly as he grabbed at her arm.

 

Lysandre was by her side. "Let me help." Frita looked at him for a moment like she wanted to object, but nodded in agreement. Alain started as a weight hit his shoulders. He had forgotten about Marin, and she had buried her face in his shoulder. They managed to get Steven to the hospital, and were now sitting in the waiting room anxiously. Well, all but Frita, who had taken up restless pacing. Steven's Metagross watched, occasionally trying to stop her, but ultimately failing. She was moving so fast it was hard to see, but Alain noticed she was limping. And her face…she looked so much older than before…

 

Alain turned his attention to other things. Steven's other Pokémon were at the hospital as well, a Carbink, an Aggron, and an Aerodactyl. They clustered together in one corner of the room. Marin was sitting on Alain's lap with her face buried in his chest. He rubbed her shoulders comfortingly.

 

A couple hours passed and finally a doctor came to speak to them…

Meanwhile, at Lysandre Labs, research was going smoothly. Lainey was watching the radar blip on her tablet as it moved across Kalos. The shard had resonated with the Giant Rock like they had thought, and an operative of Lysandre's secret organization, Team Flare, had taken the shard out to search for something that Lainey had long suspected to be dangerous. Lysandre hadn't given her the full details of his plan yet.  _ 'I don't blame him. I wouldn't trust me either.' _ She smiled.

 

The blip had stopped a few times, so when it stopped again, Lainey dismissed it at first. But when the blip didn't move for quite some time she became more interested and marked the spot on a map so she could investigate later. Hours went by, and when she got the chance, Lainey made for the spot on the back of her Braviary. She patted the Pokémon as she landed and began to walk around. She was at the edge of Geosenge Town, and came to the spot she had been looking for. It was right in the middle of a circle of large stone megaliths.

 

She took a device from her pocket and scanned the ground with it multiple times before letting out a gasp. There was a massive, well, thing buried beneath the ground under her feet. After extensive Pokénet research, the color slightly drained from her face as she finally discovered what the object was. "This…" she mumbled. "This wasn't what we expected at all." She took a cellphone out of her pocket and dialed the first number. It picked up on the third ring. "This is Elaine. I've located Lysandre's objective. It's…it's worse than we expected. It's a giant weapon. One that can wipe out all Pokémon around the world." She listened to the instructions she was given next. "Understood. I'll lay low and try to contact her ASAP."

 

She hung up and hopped back on Braviary, heading for Anistar City.


	5. Lumiose Troubles

**Heya! Moyasu here! This part of the story is a collab with me and my friend, the ImaginatorAK47 on FF.net! Go check out his side of the story! fanfiction.net/s/10276772/8/Pokemon-The-Wandering-Hero**

_~Moyasu-Chan_   


* * *

 

Everyone held their breath as the doctor cleared his throat. He looked around the room before speaking. "Young Mr. Stone will be just fine." A sigh of relief spread through the small space. "His bruising looks worse than it is, but you should still keep an eye on it just in case. He also has a mild concussion so you'll need to keep an eye on him and don't be surprised if he has some memory loss." As he finished, Steven was wheeled out in a wheelchair. He was smiling weakly and Frita was instantly by his side as he attempted to stand up. He looked like he was feeling much better now that the painkillers had kicked in. "How do you feel?" Frita looked at him questioningly. He grinned. "Like I got beat up by a Charizard."

 

Frita's face contorted at his joke and she had to stop herself from punching him in the arm. He signed the discharge papers and they paused outside the hospital. There was faint wailing sort of growl and the group turned to see Charlie laying on the lawn in a submissive position looking down at them with his big red eyes. Frita saw Marin duck behind Alain in fear out of the corner of her eye. Even Lysandre looked wary of her massive Pokemon. Steven on the other hand walked confidently up to the Charizard and rubbed his nose. "I know it's not your fault. You didn't want to hurt us on purpose, you just lost control. It's ok."

 

Frita grinned as Charlie as smiled at the man. Alain looked at Steven like he was crazy. "How can you stand so close?!" Steven turned to look at the young trainer. "Just because he attacked me doesn't mean he's going to now. He lost control, and it's not the first time it's happened. I've known this Charizard for a long time and I trust him, he's different when he's outside of battle."

 

Frita's heart started to hurt and she looked down at her feet. "It's my fault. I knew he wasn't ready to Mega Evolve in a battle yet, and I pushed him anyway. I'm sorry...to all of you. I let my ego get the best of me and you got hurt, or almost got hurt." Lysandre watched carefully. "I suppose you had your reasons. Perhaps you wanted to show Alain that Mega Evolution is a dangerous thing to encounter?" Frita shook her head. "No. I was just being reckless. I can't believe I put that kind of pressure on Charlie. He didn't deserve that. He's normally so gentle, and I know he gets worked up in battle..."

 

Alain stomped a foot. "Worked up?! He nearly KILLED US! He's a monster!" Frita turned on him in an instant and he shrank back from the suddenness. Her eyes glowed a viscous green and she put her face right down next to his. Her breath was hot on his cheeks. "Don't you ever call my Charlie a monster, or I'll show you what a real monster looks like," she hissed. Lysandre had gotten closer to Charlie, which made Frita wary, but as she watched he held a hand out to the Pokémon. Charlie sniffed at it, and then rubbed his nose against Lysandre's hand affectionately.  _ 'How odd...I suppose there is SOME good in him after all, if Charlie has taken a liking to him.' _ Charlie was sensitive to people, particularly if they were lacking good intentions. If he approved of Lysandre then Frita would let him stick around...for now at least.

 

Frita jumped as a ringing sound came from her pocket. She pulled out an experimental device Steven's dad had given her the last time she visited Hoenn. It was called a PokéTouch and had a Call function along with several apps and games. She answered the call and was met with a rushed explanation that Sycamore's Lab in Lumiose City was under an attack of some kind. _ 'Ugh. Crap, what do I do? I guess I'll just have to drag them with me since I have no idea where Keith is and he didn't answer when I called him earlier. Still, Steven has a concussion…' _ Frita wasn't sure if she should fret over Steven or worry about Sycamore.

 

"I'll be right there." She sighed as the group looked at her in confusion. "Sycamore's Lab is under attack." Frita noticed Lysandre assume a defensive pose.  _ 'Looks like he wants to go, and now.' _ The man looked as bristly as a Qwilfish. "Let's go. Now." Frita nodded and dragged Steven by the arm. She blinked rapidly as she processed the fact that he had been playing with a butterfly seconds ago.  _ 'He has a concussion Frita, he's going to act a little strange for the next few days. Just go with it.' _ She took a deep breath and helped him sit on Charlie's back. She sat behind him so she could keep him from falling off mid-flight.

 

She internally started a bit as she felt a big pair of arms wrap around her waist as Lysandre sat behind her. "Are you coming, or not?" Alain looked a little surprised when Frita called to him. He hesitated a moment. "Not it is then. Charlie!" The huge Pokemon straightened, preparing for take-off but stalled as another Pokemon appeared. Alain had released his Charizard, which Frita had healed after they had reached the hospital. "We'll take my Charizard." Frita nodded, "Fine, but try to keep up."

 

Charlie took off suddenly and Frita felt Lysandre tighten his grip. She almost wanted to laugh.  _ 'Thank you for choosing Air Charlie, please enjoy your flight.' _ She snickered to herself. Charlie flew at a fairly fast pace. It was slow enough to not injure his passengers, but fast enough to get them to Lumiose in no time at all. They landed outside the Lab and several grunts in stupid costumes raced toward them before fleeing in terror as the giant Charizard let out a mighty roar. Alain and Marin landed next to them a few minutes later. Frita jumped off Charlie's back and froze for a minute.

 

Frita's nose was highly sensitive, or at least more sensitive than the average human. She paused, sniffing for a minute as she picked up a faint trace of a smell. _ 'I know that smell…' _ She grinned like a Gengar and raced inside the building, parts of which were on fire, and called back over her shoulder. "Somebody keep and eye on Stevie for me!"

 

Frita released two of her Pokémon as she entered the building. The first was a Sneasel named Sweetpea. He had long fur on his head that hung down over part of his right eye and a pleather jacket. The second was a Camerupt named Rupt. She had a bridle like set of straps on her head that held a Mega Stone to her forehead. Frita Mega Evolved Rupt and then told the two Pokémon to find Sycamore and his assistants and help them. She raced off through the building, searching for anyone who might be injured.

 

She finished with the main building and went for the terrarium. She was about to run past a series of shattered windows when she stopped and ducked back behind the wall. Her Pokémon were fighting someone.

 

Both Sweetpea and Rupt had found Sycamore and his assistants, as well as one of Frita's old friends. He was taller than average, with a goatee and a soul-patch. His hair was brown, and he was wearing dark blue cargo pants and a light blue polo shirt. There was a Pokéball shaped badge on his shirt with a Keystone in place of the button. One of his feet was pinned beneath a solidly frozen Garchomp. There was a strange man in a hood, which hid his face, pointing a sword at the man. As he swung downward, the blade sparked as it was blocked by something.

 

Sweetpea was grinning at the strange man. **"SNEA-sel!"** The man hissed something under his breath and ordered his Houndoom to attack the Pokémon. It leapt at Sweetpea who dove forward and underneath it, much to it's surprise. Before it could leap again, it was thoroughly stomped on by Rupt, who had jumped through one of the broken out windows. She snorted steam out her nose and trudged toward the other enemy Pokémon, a Mega Abomasnow. The two battled fiercely, but Rupt was better trained and had the advantage. The Abomasnow reverted, and fell in defeat.

 

Meanwhile, the Sneasel had gotten into a sword-fight with the hooded man and was fighting furiously. He knocked the man back and as he came in to knock the sword away, the man gave a sudden underhanded swing. It caught Sweetpea off guard, and he was barely able to block it, getting knocked backward in the process. He hissed furiously and lunged at the man, slashing at his hands from the hilt of the weapon.

 

The man instinctively dropped the sword and jumped back. Sweetpea took the opportunity and lunged at the man, sending him flying out of one side of the terrarium. He didn't come back, and Sweetpea plunged his claws toward the frozen Garchomp, much to the trainer's dismay. He calmed when Garchomp was broken out of the ice unharmed, and held his ankle, wincing a little. Sweetpea flicked his hair with his claws, proud of himself. "Sneasel!"

 

Rupt had reverted and settled comfortably in the grass, munching it contentedly. Sweetpea flitted around the terrarium, using minor Blizzards to put out fires, before coming back and leaning against the Camerupt smugly. The remaining grunts had fled and, for now, everyone was safe. Frita had watched from the shadows of the hallway, both proud of her Pokémon and very observant of details of the hooded man and his actions.

 

Sycamore stood up, sighing a little. He looked concerned, no surprise there, and dusted himself off. He quickly regained his happy demeanor and walked over to the two Pokémon. Rupt looked up at him and he rubbed her nose. She let out a happy "Camerupt!", then settled back down to munch more grass. "I remember you!" Sycamore exclaimed, smiling, "but I've never met your friend here." He reached out a hand toward Sweetpea and Frita cringed, hoping the Sneasel wouldn't go overboard. Fortunately, as Sycamore's hand came close to his face, Sweetpea hissed furiously and halfheartedly swatted at it. Sycamore withdrew his hand in surprise. "No touching it is then."

 

Frita's old friend, who was now testing his weight on his injured ankle, walked slowly over to them. He was limping ever so slightly. "Hello, Rupt!" He petted the Camerupt who greeted him cheerfully. "I don't think I've ever met this Pokémon either, Professor." Sycamore turned to him. "Ah, so you know her as well!" He nodded, "Yep." His two companions, a man and a woman Frita didn't recognize, walked over to them. "Her?" The woman asked, giving him a heavily questioning look. His back was turned to Frita, which was the perfect opportunity for her.

 

She jumped through the busted out window and ran straight at him. She dove, and he turned at the last second to catch her hug.  _ 'Reflexes are as sharp as ever I see!' _ But his eyes widened a little as he caught her. He hadn't accounted for the angle she had hit him at, which completely destroyed his center of gravity, and the two ended up toppling to the ground. Before he could react further, Frita yelled "Jet!", and snatched him up in one of her bone-crunching hugs.

 

He squirmed a bit. "Hey…Frita? I, um…can't…breathe…" Frita released him immediately. "Oh, sorry!" She got up, dusting herself off and grinned. "I haven't seen you in FOREVER!" Jet, short for Jethro, grinned. "Yeah, it's been awhile! I've been traveling a lot. How are things at the League?" Frita turned. "Oh, you know. Same ol', same ol'. Got me running to every Region from Kanto and back. It takes a lot outta me sometimes." She rubbed the back of her head and let out an exasperated sigh.

 

She started suddenly as someone snatched her up in an over enthusiastic hug.  _ 'Hey, that's my thing…who?!' _ "Frita! I haven't seen you in quite a while!" She was less than enthused to see Sycamore's grinning face, as she knew what would be coming next. He was the youngest of the Pokémon Professors, around 32 or 33, but was twice as much of a pain. Frita shivered as he put an arm around her waist, underneath her coat. She nearly bolted as she felt his fingers curl around her side. "How long have you been in Kalos? Planning to stay long?"

 

_ 'I could really do without his subtle hitting on me…' _ Frita opened her mouth to answer, but her attention was caught by something behind Sycamore. He turned and they both looked straight at Steven. He had somehow gotten in without their noticing, and was petting Rupt. That wasn't the part that caught their interest though. Steven was petting Rupt, yes, but he also had Sycamore's Fennekin on his head. The little silver fox jumped onto Rupt's head, then turned and tackled Steven, licking him and jumping around playfully. He laughed and rolled over, having fallen onto his back, and eventually ended up on his stomach with his head in his hands and his legs bent at the knees like a high-school girl. Fennekin sat on his head, occasionally dropping a paw down to tap his face. He laughed and scratched it behind the ears.

 

"Um…?" Frita jumped as Sycamore turned back to her. She poked at her cheek bashfully. "He may or may not have a concussion..." Sycamore gave her a stern look, obviously wanting an explanation. "It may or may not have been caused by my Mega Evolving Charlie in a battle…" Sycamore's eyes widened. "Dear Arceus, Frita! Is he going to be alright?" Frita nodded quickly. "Oh, yes! He'll be fine! The doctors cleared him, I just need to keep an eye on him." Sycamore looked down. "I suppose that explains these then," he commented, poking at one of her scratches. She closed and eye in an inward wince. _ 'He just couldn't resist poking me, could he?' _

 

Frita wasn't exactly a stranger to Sycamore's flirting, to say the least, but she couldn't stand it. _ 'Why couldn't it have been any other region? It HAD to be the one with HIM in it.' _ While she was mentally wishing Charlie had put HER in the hospital, Sycamore had turned his attention to something behind her. "Lysandre? This is a bit of a surprise, I haven't seen you in a while either my friend." Frita cursed Sycamore in her head. She should have known Lysandre was there, just like she should have known Steven had come in. Sycamore had flustered her into a state of unawareness.

 

Before Lysandre could answer, Marin let out a happy greeting to the Professor, along with her Chespin.  _ 'When did they get here?! Ugh!' _ Sycamore gave them a cheerful greeting before his eyes widened. "Alain?! Is that you?!" The boy had been hanging back, but came forward when he was recognized. "Hello, Professor." The two caught up, and just as Sycamore was going to ask more about everything that had happened, there was a loud "Arrgh!" Frita turned, and had to do her absolute best not to laugh. A very small Vivillon had landed right in the middle of Lysandre's face, and he was not pleased.

 

Sycamore chuckled as the Pokémon opened then closed it's wings, obscuring Lysandre's unhappy face for a moment. "Professor," he started. "Yes?" Sycamore couldn't keep the amusement out of his voice. "Please get this off me." Frita finally couldn't hold it back anymore and burst out laughing as Lysandre looked at the Vivillon, giving himself an angry cross-eyed look. Sycamore finally let Frita go as he walked over and plucked the Pokémon from Lysandre's face. "That's what you get for having orange hair. Probably thought you were a flower." Frita laughed even harder as Lysandre gave the Professor a skeptical look, before realizing the man had been joking. "Y-Yes, well…" He stuttered and straightened his suit jacket.

  
_ 'Clearly he just has the ability to fluster anyone.' _ "Professor," Alain said. "Are you ok? Who were those people?" Sycamore smiled at him. "I'm fine, thank you." He rubbed his face, and Frita could see the beginnings of a black eye forming on one side. "I'm not really sure who those people were, I just know they were after my research and the Pokémon in my terrarium. They said something about a Sinister Division."


	6. The Cleanup

**This chapter is a little longer than all the rest, so be prepared for quite a bit of reading!**

****_~Moyasu_

* * *

 

Jet had offered to tell everyone about this strange organization called the Sinister Division. "If you'd please," Frita turned as Lysandre spoke. "Tell us everything you know about them."

 

Jet turned to look up at him. Frita could read the suspicion on his face, and she didn't blame him. The big man knew what he wanted, that was for sure, given his demanding tone but there was also something else in it...almost like a hint of a threat. Frita made a mental note to keep an eye on him as Jet shook his head. "The Sinister Division is just as their name says; sinister," Jethro began. "They've been around as an underground force for a while, since I was about maybe… 10 or something? Anyway, they've gone against whatever code that the League came up with as far as not using Pokémon as weapons or tools of war. We know how that went centuries ago, and so do they, except the thing about them is they don't care. They go out of their way to find all the Pokémon they can and 'recruit them', as they say. Their goal is actually quite poetically simple, global domination and all that nonsense. Why, I'm not really sure, but I know that they take no chances, they always risk the innocent, and they take no survivors, only those who want to join. They attacked my home a long time ago…"

 

He paused for a minute, memories flashing across his eyes. "They thought that they could get some 'recruits' from Professor Birch's lab in Littleroot. They staged an attack on the facility, Hyper Beams and whatnot going off all over. I was one of the cocky younger kids who wanted to help out, so I took a metal pipe from the shop behind my house and attacked a few of the grunts, but y'know, they caught me, I was prisoner… and then it showed up." Frita could feel the Pokemon he was referring to was nearby and getting closer. "What showed up?" Alain asked as the terrarium went dark. Frita glanced up for a split second. "Rayquaza." The massive black dragon Pokemon had landed very gently on the metal frame that held the panes of glass for the terrarium, looking very calmly down at everyone inside.

 

Lysandre's face was painted with amazement and shock, and Marin and her Chespin dove behind Alain in terror. Alain put a hand on her head protectively, eyeing the Pokemon warily. Sycamore and his assistants were looking up in sheer awe and Steven had rolled onto his back, giggling gleefully.  _ 'I really should keep a closer eye on him. He's a little better than before, but...' _ The Fennekin had rolled over on it's back to stare at the giant Pokemon while the other two shiny starters grinned with delight. Frita blinked while Jet scanned them with his Pokedex. He turned to Marin and Chespie when he was done, lifting her head so he could look her in the eye. "What's wrong, little one? You don't have to be afraid of Rayquaza here!" Alain explained their previous encounter with the green Rayquaza that had happened days ago. Jet's male companion asked about the Giant Rock when Lysandre brought it up and he explained further.

 

"It WHAT?!" Jet had squawked loudly as they discussed it further. Frita noticed Sycamore inch closer to her when no one was paying attention to him. She narrowed her eyes and he held his hands up in a mock innocent surrender.  _ 'He  _ **_IS_ ** _ French, it might not be a mock surrender.'  _ She had to immediately distract herself to keep from laughing at her mental joke.  _ 'I'm so horrible.'  _ She couldn't stop herself from cracking a smile anyway. Jet had looked up at Rayquaza and both of them had happy looks, which immediately fell when they learned that Rayquaza's Mega Evolution was still a mystery. "So it only reacted to this Giant Rock you found?" Steven giggled "That's correct, silly!" He had a hand stretched in the air like he wanted to pet Rayquaza. Everyone else was looking at him with concern. Jet came over to Frita and whispered "Did the doctors say what side effects would kick in with whatever painkillers he's takin'?" She shook her head. "Only that they'd cause him to be a little loopy for a while, plus he has a concussion so there's that." Jet's eyebrows went up in a skeptical look. "I can see that, and a bit? If that qualifies as 'a bit', I don't wanna know what 'incredibly' looks like." Frita smirked. "You should have been with us when he  **first** took them."

 

"Oy," Jet muttered, and turned back to Lysandre. "May I ask why the Champion of my home Region is in Kalos?" Lydandre turned to him and explained that they were continuing their research on Mega Evolution. "Then Miss Warmhart here appeared and invited us to her house there." Frita heard Jet chuckle. "With her they're more like villas," he winked at her. Frita rolled her eyes and countered "At least I  **have** places to call home, Mr. Forever a Wanderer. You hardly ever stay in one place more than a day!"  _ 'So there!' _

 

"That doesn't mean I don't have a place to call home. As a matter of fact-" His male companion cut him off mid-sentence. "I hate to interrupt, but what are we going to do about the damage here?" Frita scanned the room. Most of the turf in the terrarium had been chewed up, and several bushes and trees were charred. Only a few of the windows were still unbroken, and several trees had been uprooted. Plus, smoke still hung in the air here and there. Jet rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Yeah, sorry about that Professor. I'll pay for the damages and help any way I can to fix this mess." Frita considered her connections in the League, as well as the raw manpower of her Pokemon and Keith's.  _ 'Assuming I can get a hold of him. His Golems would be helpful, not to mention the Bronzong...'  _ She turned. "I have friends in high places that could help too. She shuddered inwardly as Sycamore gave her a mischievously suspicious smile. "Oh how sweet of you, Frita! Would you be here to oversee the restoration?" Frita side-stepped as he nearly put an arm around her, and Jet jumped in between them.  _ 'Oh thank Arceus.'  _ She gave him a grateful look.

 

"I hate to part at a time like this," Lysandre spoke up, "but I'm needed at my laboratory." He exchanged niceties with Jet before abruptly excusing himself. Frita narrowed her eyes as he left, noticing how forceful his stride had been.  _ 'I wonder...'  _ She concentrated quite hard, before managing to catch a telekinetic link with a Pokemon she had known for some time now. It's voice rang in her head.  _ 'Yes, Frita?' _ She took a deep breath and focused.  _ 'I need you to contact my Obliveon. I want it to spy on a man named Lysandre for me.'  _ Frita could think of no better Pokemon for the job than her Ghost-Type Eeveeloution. It had only recently been discovered, and was often mistaken for a Gengar with its purple fur, big ears, spiky mane running from the back of its head to its shoulders, and huge grin and bright red eyes. It had flat feet, with red rings around its ankles, and three red stripes down its back. Its tail was wispy, and reminded Frita of a Chandelure's flame.  _ 'Will do Frita.'  _ And with that, the link was broken.

 

Frita noticed Jet spacing out and waved a hand in front of his face to get his attention. "You ok?" He nodded, "I'm fine. Anyway, Sycamore, tell me about these starters of yours! Seems to me they're a shiny batch!" Sycamore nodded cheerfully. "Yes, I was quite surprised myself! The Froakie let itself out of the Pokeball the minute I received it, and I thought it was a little off, but it's so hard to tell with that one. Then when the rest of them appeared, I realized they were all shiny!" Frita ambled over to Steven, who was still looking up and laid down next to him. The Fennekin immediately jumped onto her and she snuggled it happily. "Fenne- **KIN** !" Steven turned to look at her, and she had to restrain from jumping in terror. Like anyone with a concussion, his pupils were dilated, but they had been much bigger than she had expected having not looked him directly in the eye this close. There was about half of his ice blue irises showing than usual, and his wide eyed joyful look made him extremely creepy without intending to. Frita turned to look at Sycamore and Jet and when she turned back, he was gone.

 

She panicked for a minute before she spotted him bugging Sweetpea. The Sneasel was trying his best to hold back, but she could see he was growing increasingly agitated with every halfhearted swipe Steven took at the top of his head. She thought rapidly about what might keep his attention.  _ 'Lets see, he loves rocks...where am I going to get rocks here in the city? Wait a minute!'  _ Frita turned back to Sycamore, making sure to keep Steven in her line of sight. "Professor!" Sycamore turned to her as she called his name. "Yes!" He seemed overly excited, but Frita tried to ignore that for the time being. "You have a big collection of Mega and Evolutionary Stones here at the Lab, right?" Sycamore nodded slowly, curious as to where she was going with it. "Can you go put them in a box and bring them out here?" Sycamore complied and returned about ten minutes later with a box of stones. "Careful, it’s heav-" He didn't have a chance to finish as Frita grabbed the box from him like it was light as a feather. She sat it down on the ground and called to Steven. He looked up at her and she motioned to the box. When he came to investigate, his eyes lit up with joy and he promptly plopped down in front of the box and began digging through it, admiring each stone he came across extensively. Frita let out a heavy sigh.

 

Sycamore chuckled at her and she turned to him and gave a weak smile. He tilted his head, a concerned look on his face, but before he could say anything one of the Jennys came in asking about the man who had attacked the building. Frita offered to compile a folder of things she'd noticed about him and Jet and Sycamore offered to help. Frita went and sat in one of the untouched lab rooms to get started. After a while, she had a list of things she'd noticed about the man and a pretty good drawing of what he looked like. Sycamore had moved Steven and his box of stones into the room when clean up in the terrarium had started, and he was now sleeping in a corner with the Fennekin in his arms. Frita rubbed her eyes and sighed. She was absolutely exhausted with everything that had happened that day, and some of her muscles felt like they were on fire. She was determined to at least finish coloring the sketch though, and set to work. When she had almost finished all the details, Sycamore had come in to look at the list she'd made. He made a point of leaning over her chair to look at both it and her drawing and she frowned as she felt his body press against her shoulders and upper back.  _ 'Oh my Arceus, you're such a creep!' _

 

She did her best to ignore him, but he was so close that she was practically drowning in his cologne. He picked up a pencil and jotted a few more things down on her list before her head began to hurt.  _ 'Why is his cologne so strong?'  _ She rubbed her eyes again, a dull ache beginning to form behind them, and sat back in the chair. She had finished all the small detail colors, and all that was left were the main parts. Her eyes flew open as Sycamore put a hand on her shoulder and she sat bolt upright. "You should sleep. You look tired." Frita shook her head. "I'm fine." Her voice was laced with slight irritation, but it faded at the end. Frita's nose was most certainly more sensitive than the average human, and she was beginning to go into olfactory overload from the smell wafting off Sycamore in waves. Her mind was already swimming, and she began to flail as all the exhaustion of the day came to the surface. Sycamore squeezed her shoulders. "I mean it. You need to rest, you can barely stay conscious right now. Sleep. It's not like we can't fix the terrarium and finish the picture without you."  _ 'You're part of the reason I'm feeling so weird!'  _ She wanted to blurt it out, but the words wouldn't come. After Sycamore squeezed her shoulders a few more times and tried his best to convince her, she reluctantly agreed with a sigh and a quiet "ok." She curled up in the chair, facing away from Sycamore and quickly faded into sleep.

* * *

Sycamore took her drawing, and her bin of colored pencils to a nearby table, along with the folder. He added to it extensively, and finished the drawing before getting up and stretching. Jethro had come in not long ago to help him with everything, and had checked up on both Frita and Steven, satisfied that they were both finally asleep. Sycamore gathered all the papers into the folder and folded it up. Before he left, he threw his labcoat over Frita and turned the lights off, leaving the door open as he did so. He began contemplating things as he went down the hallway in search of an Officer Jenny to deliver the folder to. He knew Frita was nearly 11 years younger than he, and that she was certainly quick to reject him. He hadn't really wanted Frita's affection in a romantic way to begin with, but he just couldn't help being a flirt. It was who he was, and that certainly wasn't going to change now. He knew she would never care for him that way anyhow, but she had a personality that could go one of two ways. The options were hating her guts, or finding her completely companionable. Sycamore had chosen the latter. It wasn't uncommon for her to be viewed in either way. The first impression most people got from her was that she was blunt, a little sarcastic, reckless, very loud, talked too much, had lots of energy, could be very rude, and had an all around abrasive personality. This was true, but underneath that was a soul that burned like fire. She was determined and stubborn, but also very kind particularly to her friends or people she cared about, as well as generous to some degree, loyal to a fault, and above all else she was a protector.

 

Sycamore had noticed this before.  _ 'She always had that obvious need to defend everyone,'  _ he mused. He had also noticed that when she jumped to someone's defense, there was little regard for her own reputation, safety, or well being. That very day had been an obvious example. She had not only grappled with an enormous Charizard, but had been viciously attacked by it, as well as having taken care of Steven, helped save Sycamore's Lab, and had then gone so far as to help the Jennys get a solid description of the attackers.  _ 'Speaking of the Jennys...'  _ He had finally managed to find one, and handed her the folder. She thanked him and left for the Police Station, but not before rejecting his sweet talking. Her really couldn't help himself.

* * *

 

Frita yawned and slowly blinked open her eyes. She was very warm, and her face contorted in confusion as she searched for the heat source. She blinked rapidly, her eyes beginning to adjust to the dim surroundings before her senses came flooding back and she smelled Sycamore's heavy cologne. She looked down to see his lab coat and hissed, flinging the coat on the floor with an enthusiastic "Ew." She stretched, quivering before she actually got up, stretching more and heading for the doorway. She paused in it, wondering how long she'd been asleep, before making an irritated face and looking back at Sycamore's lab coat. She fought with herself internally before hating herself for having some sense of a conscience and picking it up to return to him. She stumbled out into the terrarium, where everyone had gathered on the ground for what appeared to be a picnic with the Pokemon. Everyone greeted her as she arrived, Sycamore more enthusiastically than everyone else, and she threw his coat over his face. "How long was I out for?" She had noticed Steven was still asleep in the corner with the Fennekin when she had first gotten up.

 

"You slept through the rest of the day and the whole night." Jet had responded to her. Her eyes widened. "Wait...seriously?" He nodded and offered her a sandwich. She checked her Keystone Pocket Watch to find that it was noon on the dot. "Jeeze...I must have been really tired." Sycamore had pulled his coat off his head and smiled at her. "I tried waking you up so you could sleep in a proper room like everyone else did, but nothing I did fazed you in the slightest." Frita shivered, wondering what he had tried to wake her up before her brain scolded her for thinking he'd sink so low. Despite all his personal space invading, he was actually somewhat of a gentleman for the most part. Either way, she sat as far away from him as possible and took a bite of the sandwich. It was tasty, and she devoured it quickly. "Uh oh," Jet grinned at her. "I feel like giving you a taste of food was a bad idea." The words turned out to be true, as Frita's stomach rumbled hungrily. Sycamore told her she was free to raid the fridge in the Lab's kitchen, and she came back completely full.

 

One of Sycamore's assistants showed up with a disheveled look and showed everyone a picture of the now nearly empty fridge. "My my, you weren't kidding, were you?" Sycamore asked Jet in surprise. He shook his head, "Not in the slightest." Frita was still munching on a celery stick as she turned to look at them blankly. "You have quite the appetite." Frita shrugged and turned away from them, looking for her Pokemon. They had slept in the newly patched up terrarium and were looking fairly well rested. Frita let out a small squeak as someone grabbed her from behind. She was expecting Sycamore, but when she turned she could see silvery hair. Steven had his arms wrapped around her waist and his face was buried in her shoulder. "Um...?" He let out a little moan and looked up at her. She couldn't see too well, but it looked like his pupils had gotten a little smaller, even if they hadn't completely returned to normal. He mumbled into her shoulder, "I feel like I got hit by a train." Frita was about to answer him until her PokeTouch rang again. She frowned at the unrecognized number. "Hello?" The voice on the other end was female. "Is this Frita Warmhart?" Frita's eyebrows knit and she answered, "Yes it is. Who are you, and how did you get this number?" The voice responded quickly. "That's not important. There's something you should know about Lysandre, and what he plans to do."


	7. Café Chaos

Frita questioned the speaker on the other end of the PokeTouch extensively. That’s what she’d like to have done anyway, but all she got was a quick explanation and a sudden dial tone. “Wait I--!” But whoever it was on the other end was already gone. She pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, before letting out a snort and and grabbing a bottle of water from the picnic. She broke loose and twisted the cap off with a single, fluid movement and handed it to Steven. He took a sip and stared at her blankly. She dug in her pockets, patting her coat until she found what she was looking for. She fished a pill bottle from her coat’s inside left breast pocket and yanked the cap off. She plopped two pills into Steven’s hand before putting the bottle back and walking away. Her irritation was obvious, so much so that as she walked, her coat flared behind her as if she was walking through a Gust.

 

Frita stormed her way to the front of the building, where she walked out into the yard and leaned against one of the front gate posts. It was solid brick, with a large stone Pokeball on the top of it, and an identical twin a few feet away. She dialed several numbers, including Zachary in the Mara Region. The Cyber-Type Gym Leader was a techie through and through, and his exceptional web search and hacking skills would come in handy to confirm what she had been told. After a while she called Wallace, in Hoenn.

 

“Hello-oo!” He answered in his usual, cheery, sing-song tone of voice. For a split second, an image of how he used to look and act flashed in her mind and she dismissed it. Wallace was fickle, and he could and WOULD do whatever he wanted. “Hi,” she snapped, frowning. “Uh!” Wallace let out an indignant snort. “No need to be short with me! Honey, I’ve seen Feraligatrs less snappy than you!” Frita sighed. “Yeah. Sorry Wallace.” She heard him snort again, but she could hear the smile behind it over the phone. “Good. Now then, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Frita cringed, not really wanting to tell him about Steven. 

 

“I need a bit of help, Wallace. Steven...well,” her voice took on a higher pitch and Wallace knew exactly what it meant. “Oh Arceus, what did you do?” Frita sucked in a breath through her teeth. “He...may have a minor concussion and some bad bruising.” She could practically feel Wallace’s death glare from there in Kalos. “Frita! What happened?!! Did you beat him up again?!” Now it was Frita’s turn to get indignant. “No! I...well, I Mega Evolved Charlie in a battle and Steven, like the selfless idiot he is, jumped in to help and got caught in the crossfire.” She let out a heavy sigh and slid down the gate post until she was sitting on the ground. “Well, is he going to be ok?!!” Frita leaned her head back against the gate post. “He’ll be fine. I just need to keep an eye on him, which is hard since he has the attention span of a 5-year old.”

 

Wallace let out a chuckle. “Now I see why you called. Let’s see...what did I do the last time this happened…?” Frita’s brow knit. “Wait, the LAST time? This has happened before?” She asked. “Mhm. Oh, what did I do…? It’s been a long time since Steven had a concussion. I think...oh! I remember now! Give him a pair of headphones!” Frita blinked rapidly. “Headphones, really?” Wallace’s voice brightened considerably. “Yes! He’ll be so busy with the music that he won’t be able to do anything else. Literally! He won’t really be able to process anything with the music playing. The last time this happened, by the way, he got headbutted by an Aron while in Granite Cave. About a year before we met you, actually.”

  
  


_ That dredged up memories for Frita that she had long since stored away in the back of her brain. She had been only 14 then, and Steven 17, and Wallace of course had been 19. The age difference had seemed huge back then, but the three of them didn’t feel so far apart now. She had been asked to deliver a small box to Steven from his father, the man really did need a personal delivery person or something with the amount of things he sent to his son. Except this package was a little different than the rest. It wasn’t wrapped, and consisted of a plain lacquered black box with a red velvety lining. Cushioned in the cloth were two stones, one very large and one quite small. These turned out to later be Steven’s Keystone, which he kept on his lapel pin, and a Metagrossite. Frita hadn’t been nearly as confident back then, shy and fairly unsocial, so simply meeting Mr. Stone had been a little jarring. Gaining confidence was actually why she had been traveling in the first place. She had already become Champion of Kanto and Johto, and could have simply claimed her position, but she was so shy she would never have been able to really do her job. So, when the former Champion told her she should travel to gain more experience and confidence, she did and decided her goal would be to defeat every Pokemon League she could find. Her detour to Granite Cave had set her back a bit, since she had planned on challenging the Dewford Gym Leader at the time, Brawnson, Brawly’s mentor. He later became one of the Elite Four of Mara when Frita asked him to. _

 

_ Frita had even been afraid of the dark then, so the massive cave complex unnerved her immensely. It had taken her nearly 10 minutes just to step inside and she took her time inching through the stone passageways. On her way through the caves, she had ended up disturbing a large group of Lairon, which charged at her angrily. She had let out a terrified squeal, and then there was complete chaos. Attacks were flying everywhere and another Pokemon she didn’t recognize had shown up to battle the Lairon. In the anarchy, a stray Flash Cannon had hit the ceiling, causing it to collapse on what would have been Frita, but before the rubble could hit her she was thrown clear by a heavy weight. When the dust finally cleared, the new Pokemon was revealed to be a white Metang. Frita had been so scared, that she hadn’t opened her eyes immediately after everything was over. “Hey!” She had felt someone shaking her and had finally taken a peek at her surroundings to find herself in the arms of a handsome young man, Steven Stone. She had looked right into his pale blue eyes and had nearly drowned in them. “Are you alright?” She had blinked in confusion, and had then blushed heavily before jumping up and dusting herself off. She had apologized and had stated her reason for being there with a large amount of stuttering. Upon finding out the name of her rescuer, she had felt thoroughly humiliated, and had dug the box out of her bag to give it to him. He had walked her out of the cave before stopping on the beach to investigate the box. _

 

_ Frita had shyly approached his Metang, and had read the Pokedex entry on it. It seemed to like her a lot, and was very affectionate. This seemed to surprise him, and he asked her what she thought of Steel-Type Pokemon. She replied that she loved all Pokemon in general, which seemed to satisfy him. He had let out the rest of his Pokemon, an Aron and a Skarmory, and she had adored both of them. Though only the Aron seemed to take a liking to her. She had steeled herself enough to be semi-confident and offered to let her Pokemon loose as well. In the end, she had shown off her Typhlosion, Arcanine, and Ninetails...and Charlie. Steven had nearly had a heart attack when the massive Pokemon had breached from the ocean and had been absolutely fascinated by the concept of a Charizard that could swim. It was later determined by the Pokemon Professors that he had a rare Ability referred to as Proof. In this case, it was Waterproof, since water and Water-Type Moves had no effect on him.  _

 

_ Steven had been even more intrigued when the Pokemon had relit his own tail flame after shaking most of the water off. Frita had liked to call it Reignition at the time, and it was fitting. The irony of her Pokemon hadn’t been ignored either. A shy, skinny girl with an enormous, affectionate, confident Charizard. It really was an amusing sight. She had opened up quite a bit to Steven, which was a surprise, and had taken an immediate liking to him. Even more surprising, considering they were polar opposites. He was reserved and proper and, when she had finally moved past her shyness, she was rambunctious and fiery. He was quiet and thoughtful while she was loud and brash, preferring a show of force to a strategically planned out battle. They were Fire and Steel. Completely opposing and yet, able to compliment each other quite well. They were equally passionate, one of the few things they shared. And while she didn’t show it often (in fact she usually made fun of Steven for collecting stones) she was equally fascinated with geology, though it was more in an aesthetic sense. She thought most of the stones he found were absolutely beautiful, and a few years later, he had made her a bracelet out of a chunk of a Fire Stone and a pre-made steel band.  _

 

_ She never took it off, even after it had begun to tarnish and change color, though Steven had once insisted that he wanted to remake it. She had refused to take it off for him though, stating that she didn’t mind the tarnish despite the fact that it turned her wrist green. They had gotten into a huge and frivolous argument over it, which had resulted in Frita staying with Wallace for a few days out of frustration instead of the local Pokemon Center in Mossdeep. In the end though, Steven had relented and showed up to apologize. Wallace had insisted on making them a meal, and had been fairly disappointed to hear that Frita had taken a bigger liking to Steven than to him when they had talked in private during an after dinner walk. She hadn’t even been aware that he had liked her in any way, but they had stayed friends nonetheless. In fact, whenever she had been confused about Steven’s actions, Wallace had always been willing to help her. _

  
  
  


She made a mental note to treat him better in the future, and to visit him more often. He loved playing the host to guests, though it was mostly so he could practice his drink mixing and cooking skills. In fact, she had to admit that he was a fantastic cook. One of her favorite dishes of his was his Pecha Berry Tart, which was huge and very, very sweet. She adored sweet food, another thing that made her a polar opposite of Steven. He couldn’t stand overly sweet foods, in fact she had seen him gag once when Wallace had force fed him a slice of tart. She giggled and blinked as a voice snapped her out of her memories.

 

“Frita? Are you still there? Hello?”  _ ‘That’s right, I’m still on the phone.’ _ “Sorry, Wallace. I was thinking of that time you forced Steven to eat one of your tart slices.” This produced a hearty laugh from Wallace. “Yes, I remember! Gave me a death glare like I’d tried to feed him Seviper venom!” He giggled hysterically. “And…!” He was trying to catch his breath long enough to finish. “And, he nearly threw up when it just touched his tongue!” He completely cracked up and Frita couldn’t help but smile. Wallace really did always make her feel better. 

 

She pulled her sleeve back and placed a hand on her worn metal bracelet. The steel was old and tarnished, and her wrist was green where it had touched, but the Fire Stone piece was just a bright as ever. She sighed and for a few moments, while she was waiting for Wallace to stop laughing so hard he was crying, and considered actually letting Steven take the stone and put it in a bracelet that she couldn’t get metal poisoning from. After looking at it for a bit, she came to the realization that she wasn’t sure she wanted him to replace it because it reminded her of their relationship. She had never told Steven how she felt about him, and regret welled up in her just a tiny bit. She was the bright Fire Stone, she would keep burning for a long, long time...but Steven, he was the steel band. He’d eventually wear down, and be unable to keep up with her. She had to squeeze her eyes shut to keep from crying a little.

 

She thought about telling Wallace about all her problems and the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to tell him. Keith knew, and she greatly appreciated his support as a best friend, but Wallace knew both sides of the board. He always seemed to be so level headed underneath all that flare, attitude, and sass. She wished she could be like that. She wanted to talk with Wallace in person though. "I wish you were here," she said, almost in a whisper. Wallace recovered immediately at that. "Honey, what's bothering you?" Frita sighed. She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.

 

"I'd rather tell you in person..." Wallace gave a small huff. "I understand. Do you want me to come visit you?" She started in alarm. "Oh, Arceus no! Not unless you want to!" Wallace scoffed. "You KNOW I always want to visit with you! Silly girl!" Frita smiled. "Thanks, Wallace." She hung up the phone with a satisfied click, wiping one of her eyes.

 

“Frita?” She nearly jumped five feet in the air, and turned to see Jet standing with the door partially opened. She covered the bracelet hurriedly and straightened her jacket. “You know, it’s rude to eavesdrop on people’s phone calls,” she said, trying to sound irritated but failing. Jet smiled a little. “I’ve only been here about three minutes,” he said. “I’m sorry if I interrupted something.” He looked down to Frita’s wrist. “It’s a really nice bracelet,” he said. “I’m sure it was very pretty when the metal wasn’t so tarnished.” Her breath caught and she looked down at her wrist. “Yeah…” she mumbled. She shook her head and began digging in her bag, producing a pair of headphones. She eventually managed to find Steven again, and plopped them on his head. He stopped moving immediately and got a far away look on his face.

 

_ ‘Dear Arceus, finally! One less thing to worry about.’  _ Unfortunately, finding Steven meant she found Sycamore as well. He immediately began hitting on her and she shut him down in the blink of an eye. “I wonder how Lysandre’s research is going?” She hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but she did. “You know,” Sycamore started. “He has a Cafe here in town.” Frita blinked in surprise. “He does?” Sycamore nodded. “Yes, it’s called Cafe Lysandre.”  _ ‘Of course it is. Egotistical jerk.’  _ “Where is it? I might visit while I have time.” Sycamore gave her a sneaky look. “A wonderful idea Frita! We could get a cup of espresso together.” Her face twisted a little and she glared at him. “You’re not going to tell me where it is unless you come with, are you?” 

 

The Professor gave Frita a most charming smile. “Whatever would give you that idea?” He winked and she glared at him again. “Fine, whatever. BUT, if you try anything, and I mean ANYTHING...you’ll wish you’d never so much as blinked at me,” she hissed, pointing a finger at his face. He held his hands up in surrender and smiled at her, “Whatever you say, Frita.” She narrowed her eyes and turned on her heel. In a few moments, they were walking the streets of Lumiose. Despite how much she disliked Sycamore, the break from all the action was more than welcome. They strolled side by side, hands in their coat pockets until Sycamore turned suddenly and cut in front of her. She followed him into a tiny clearing with a sign that said “Magenta Plaza”. She had a sneaking suspicion that Sycamore had taken the long way around, but ignored it. She wasn’t extremely familiar with this particular city, and so had no proof of anything.

 

The Cafe was small, with a bright red awning extending over it.  _ ‘Surprise, surprise. Bright red. Not his favorite color or anything.’  _ She paused and her brow knit.  _ ‘Wow, I’m being such a judgemental witch. I really need to work on that.’  _ Sycamore opened the door for her. The inside was the stereotypical Lumiose Cafe, with dark wood walls and a bookcase on one side of the room. All the accent colors were red, and the place was completely deserted except for the Waiter and Waitress. Sycamore took up residence on a barstool and leaned casually on the bar. It was obvious he’d been there before. He ordered their drinks and patted the stool next to him. 

  
Frita warily sat down, still taking in the surroundings. She frowned, smelling a smell that shouldn't have come from a Café. It smelled like machinery and sweat, mixed with scared Pokémon and metal. Sycamore waved a hand in front of her face and she punched him in the arm a little harder than she had intended. His face screwed up and he winced as he rubbed his shoulder. "Ow…" Frita threw him an apologetic look and got up, following the smell toward the Bookcase. She looked at it suspiciously, the smell clearly coming from behind it. All the books were about Pokemon, except one…it was titled 'Kings of Kalos'.    
  
Frita reached up to touch it, but the waitress grabbed her wrist before she could reach it. "We ask that you please not touch the books. They're part of a rare collection we have on display here." It was obvious the woman was lying through her teeth. Frita shrugged, "Alright. If you say so." She took her seat next to Sycamore and picked up her drink. It was boiling hot and she downed it in one gulp before her eyes widened. She tasted something familiar, but not right, and stopped Sycamore from sipping his. Not that he was going to, being too busy wondering how Frita had managed not to burn herself. "What exactly did you put in this?" The garçon looked up at her from behind the bar. "Espresso." His tone was short and rude, and she nearly slugged him. "Granbullcrap!" She said. "I know what I tasted!"    
  
Sycamore blinked. "Frita, what-" She cut him off mid-sentence. "My drink had Seviper Venom in it!" His eyes widened. "It WHAT?!" She glared down the garçon while she spoke. "I've tasted it before, when someone tried to poison me once. It has a unique taste, and it doesn't matter how powerful the drink is, you'll never cover it up. So, how much did you give me? It can't have been a lot, considering how small an espresso cup is."  _ 'Did Lysandre order this, or are they acting alone? He can't have known we'd come here, right? No, the Professor would never agree to be part of a plan like this. He's got a conscience. So then they must recognize me and be working on their own.' _ _   
_   
"He needs to train his lackeys better." She mumbled. Sycamore looked over at her, confused. "What? Frita, if what you said is true, we need to get out of here! You need to get to a hospital!" He grabbed her arm and she shook him loose. "I'll be fine," she said flatly. "Didn't kill me back then, won't now. It's not enough." She snorted, still glaring at the garçon. "Old fashioned way it is then," he hissed, sending out a Pokemon. It was a Scrafty, and it growled at her. The Waitress threw out a Liepard which hissed menacingly. Frita pushed the Professor behind her to protect him from the approaching Pokémon. The Liepard was about to pounce on her when she glared at it, her green eyes glowing brightly. It's eyes widened and it shrank back, hissing in fear along with its Trainer. The Scrafty tried to use a Low Kick, but Frita blocked it and grabbed the Pokémon by its mohawk, throwing it back into its Trainer.   
  
"Idiots. I'm the Grand Champion of the Pokémon League. I'm hardly intimidated by two poorly trained Pokémon like this. You're horribly predictable." She turned to Sycamore, asking if he was alright. While they were distracted, Frita smelled the same odd smell she had before, but stronger. They turned to see Lysandre standing in front of the Bookcase.  _ 'How did I not hear him, and where on earth did he come from?’  _ **"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?"** His voice boomed through the room, nearly shattering the glass window at the front of the building, and he glared at the garçon and waitress. "Your lackeys attacked us, Lysandre. And they tried to poison me."  __ 'What will he do, I wonder? It had better be SOMETHING, or I'll beat them senseless myself!'   
  
The man's eyes widened. "They **WHAT?!** " He turned on them with all the viciousness of a pack of angry Houndoom. "I don't know what you thought you were doing, but you're fired!" He grabbed them by the backs of their shirts, more than strong enough to lift them, and dragged them out of the Café and to the nearest Officer Jenny. He spent less than five minutes explaining, straightened his jacket, and walked away like a boss.    
  
"My sincerest apologies, Grand Champion. I have no idea why they acted in such a way. Are you alright?" Frita nodded. "I'll be fine." As the words left her mouth, she was wrapped in a purple almost lightning and several purple bubbles surrounded her. She twitched a little before recovering and assuming a completely calm stance. Lysandre gave her an odd look. "I wasn't aware poisoning could work that way on humans. Are you positive you're ok?" He looked surprisingly worried. "I'm fine, I assure you." Sycamore looked hysterical. "No you aren't! You're poisoned!" Frita turned on him. “Dear  **ARCEUS** , will you  **CALM DOWN?!** You fret worse than an old woman! I’ll be fine!”


	8. Inhuman

Lysandre watched the Professor fret over Frita, who seemed completely fine for the most part.  _ ‘How strange. The poison doesn’t seemed to have affected her all that much, and yet...the way her body reacts to it. It simply isn’t a human reaction. However, that would mean…’  _ He frowned in thought and decided to improvise for a minute. While they weren’t paying attention, he took out a device and quickly scanned the Grand Champion before slipping it back into his suit pocket to examine later. His plans were going perfectly, even to the point of getting Alain to do what he wanted and gather as much data as possible and he couldn’t afford a wild card at the moment.

 

Despite it having nearly killed the boy, his battle with Frita’s Charizard was quite helpful. His Mega Ring had gathered a large amount of useful data about Mega Evolution, and had provided good info on the Charizard as well. It would seem that he had undergone an exceptionally unusual amount of growth in his evolution from a Charmeleon into a Charizard, and seemed to have some other strange abilities. He was faster than average, very fast in fact and very strong as well. Not only that, but he seemed to have an Ability that Lysandre couldn’t for all his searching identify.

 

He offered Frita his help in dealing with the poison, but she declined as she and Sycamore seemed to have gotten into an argument and he quietly excused himself.  _ ‘That was quite close. She nearly saw the hidden laboratory. Her poisoning was not intended, but it may lead to something I should look into.  _ He took the device to one of his henchmen and told him to have the scientists analyze the data he had collected on it. He made some calls and checked on a few other things before heading to another Cafe to have a small drink. It was rather ironic, his sitting in someone else’s Cafe after everything that had just happened in his own. After a while, he considered checking on Frita and decided to call Sycamore.

 

The Professor answered on the second ring. “Hello?” Lysandre cleared his throat. “Hello, Professor. I was wondering if perhaps the Grand Champion was doing better?” Sycamore sighed. “Yes, she seems to be doing fine. We forced her to eat a Pecha Berry and her poisoning has been cured, I think. She’s a stubborn one. Absolutely insisted that poison was no big deal. Honestly, poison! I still have a hard time believing anyone would want to poison her in the first place.” He sounded upset.  _ ‘I didn’t want him involved in any of this. I must remember to try my absolute best to keep him clear of everything I do.’  _ “I’m glad to hear she’s doing better. That’s certainly good news.” His phone beeped and he bid the Professor farewell before answering the incoming call. “Yes?” Lainey was on the other end of the phone. “Sir, our other scientists have told me there’s something here you should see. It’s regarding the Grand Champion.” Lysandre’s eyes darted to the side. “Thank you for telling me, I’ll be right there.”

 

He got up to leave and paused, looking behind him.  _ ‘I could swear someone was following me…’  _ He grunted.  _ ‘No matter. I have more important things to do than chase some imaginary eavesdropper.’  _ He left the Cafe and got into a car, making his way to Lysandre Labs. When he arrived, Lainey was waiting for him. “They refused to tell me what it was they wanted to show you, said they wanted you to see it first.” Lysandre frowned and followed her to one of the lab rooms where his team of scientists had put several charts and other things up on the large video screens.

 

The data from his device had been projected on each of them. “Sir, we’ve come to a rather unsettling conclusion.” One of the scientists was saying. “We analyzed the data you collected,” she pressed a button, “and this is what we found about her physical makeup.” On the screen was a silhouette of Frita with her arms at her sides. Over top of the silhouette were several images of what appeared to be internal organs. Lysandre frowned, confused. “What exactly am I looking at?” The scientist nodded. “That’s just it sir, this appears to be Frita Warmhart’s entire internal biological system. It seems she has most of the usual organs a human has, except…” Based on the diagram, Frita’s lungs and stomach took up most of her body, and she seemed to lack intestines and kidneys, among other things. “But how…?” The scientist turned to him. “Her stomach apparently contains a raging fire that seems to burn up everything she eats or drinks, even the ash it’s turned into. From there it looks like it’s turned into smoke or steam and sucked into her lungs, then expelled through her nose or mouth.” Lysandre was shocked.

 

“But that would mean…” The scientist nodded again. “Yes sir. Frita Warmhart...isn’t human.”  _ ‘Not human. I suspected it might be possible. But then what is she?!’  _ As if she could read his mind, the scientist continued. “Her body isn’t made of flesh exactly. It appears she’s composed of a magma like substance that is warm to the touch on the outside and is malleable enough to make her appear human. However, it was not quite malleable enough to cover up the fact that she has a tail, sir.” Lysandre pondered this. “I suppose that would be why she wears that long coat everywhere.” He looked back up as the scientist resumed speaking. “Her heart pumps magma through her veins to regulate her body temperature. We analyzed the DNA sample you brought us from the cup at the Cafe, and she appears to have a similar biological composition to Pokemon. However, her energy levels are through the roof. She has far more power than even the Pokemon of Legend here in the Kalos Region.” Lysandre’s eyes widened.

 

“She’s more powerful than a Legendary Pokemon?!! How is that possible?!!” He had risen to his feet, surprise and shock written all over his face. “We did extensive research sir, we found only one source and it’s very, very old.” She pulled up pictures of pages from an ancient book. Next to them were translations from the original language. “It says here that this creature,” she pointed to an image of a beast that looked similar to a Pokemon, “was called a Golem. It was a fierce being of elemental power that was hunted nearly to extinction out of humans’ fear of it. It also says that from these beasts there came smaller creatures. We’ve traced the history of the text, and it seems these smaller monsters became known as what are today, Pokemon.” Lysandre’s eyes widened. “You mean to tell me that these creatures,” he gestured toward the picture, “are the predecessors of Pokemon?”

The scientist nodded. “We believe so, yes. We also believe, that Frita Warmhart is one of these Golems.” Lysandre turned to her. “But that would mean she’s thousands of years old, correct?” The scientist nodded. “That’s what we first thought too, but it seems that the power for Pokemon to evolve came from the Golems. Based on this, we’ve determined that the Golems also evolved. Meaning it’s likely that miss Warmhart is actually a new age Golem descended from other Golems who survived humans’ initial fear of them.” Lysandre held up a hand to stop her. “But if this is true, then why is it that all Golems didn’t simply become Pokemon?” She turned toward the screen again. “We believe that the Golems were a sentient race with free will. It’s likely that some of them didn’t wish to change into smaller forms, as they would lose some of their power. We believe that Golems simply found a way of evolving to minimize their size, but retain their massive stores of power. Which is why we believe that Frita Warmhart is a Golem. She seems to have a massive power source that we can’t identify. We also believe that the elements associated with the Golems became the modern day Pokemon Types, with the exception of Fairy. This would explain why miss Warmhart could survive being attacked by her Charizard and how she could lift him off the ground.”

Lysandre frowned. “That would certainly explain it.” The scientist nodded. “We’ve also determined that with such a massive power source, she would need an enormous amount of food to sustain herself.” Lysandre looked up.  _ ‘That would explain how she managed to eat all that leftover food from the day she made us breakfast.’  _ Now that he thought about it, Lysandre remembered her doing some peculiar things. “And you said she was more powerful than a Legendary Pokemon?” The scientist nodded. “Absolutely.” A wicked smile came across Lysandre’s face. “That might be just what we need. Can you design something to hold her?” The scientist looked confused. “Hold her, sir?” Lysandre nodded. “We were planning on using Zygarde to power the machine, but Frita Warmhart is a far stronger power source.” The scientist grinned and nodded to him. “I see, sir. We’ll come up with something as quickly as possible.”

 

Lainey was eyeing the screen with obvious surprise. It appeared she had never suspected the Grand Champion of being anything other than normal. She looked considerably alarmed when Lysandre stated what he intended to do with the woman. “Are you feeling alright?” Lainey jumped at his question. “Yes, I’m fine. It’s just...a new species? No, an undiscovered one. Amazing. What would you like me to do, sir?” Lysandre turned to her. “Stay here and help the others create the capture device. There is no room for error with this one. It must be perfect.” With that, he strode away.

 

Meanwhile, Frita had gotten into a huge argument with Sycamore who was fretting about her terribly. She growled. “Stop it!” He had insisted on her getting some form of medical attention, and had dragged her back to the lab. When she got there, she was greeted by her Pokemon and Steven, who had taken the headphones off. She stopped, staring straight at him. He seemed to have recovered from his concussion, at least enough to be semi normal now anyway. He smiled at her and her eyes widened. It wasn’t the fact that he smiled at her that surprised her. It was the WAY he smiled. She hadn’t seen that smile in a long time. He had apparently also changed back into his typical suit and tie attire, though where he had gotten that from was a mystery considering the rest of his stuff was in her house in Anistar City. She flinched, the poison acting up again and narrowed her eyes before it wore off again. Steven looked concerned. “Are you alright? What happened?!”

 

“What’s wrong?” Jethro asked, jogging over to them from the pond. “Frita’s been poisoned!” Sycamore said, fretting. Jethro went from a jog to a sprint instantly. “How many times do I have to tell you I’m fine before you just calm down and admit that I’M FINE?” Frita seemed even more irritated than before. “Stop lying to yourself, Frita, you’re poisoned,” Jethro said. “No one’s ever ‘fine’ when poisoned. Now, please, let me help an old friend out and don’t fight this. I know you get irritated when everyone frets over your health when it’s nothing you don’t think is serious,” he said as he went to his backpack and began to dig through a certain pocket, “but believe me, this is more serious than you’re treating it.” He procured a few Pecha Berries from the pocket, as well as a medicine bowl and grinder. He then dug through his medicine pocket and brought out a water bottle. Working deftly, he ground up the Pecha Berries into a paste and put some on his fingers. “Now Frita, please,” he said, looking her right in the eyes, “let me help. Leave this stuff on your face for a few minutes until the poison has completely dissipated.” 

 

Frita leaned back, away from his hands and glared at him. “I’M. FINE.” She took a few more steps back. “I don’t need your Pecha Berry paste.” Jethro sighed and looked at Steven. He shook his head and looked back at her for a minute. “Frita-” Jethro started, but she cut him off. “I said I’M FINE!!!” She stomped her foot so hard she shook the building and shattered one of the floor tiles. Steam shot from her nose and her eyes lit up like fireworks. Her shoulders were hunched in a defensive position and she was almost snarling. “I’m fine.” 

 

Everyone’s faces lit up in shock. Jethro took a few steps back while Steven walked over to Jethro’s bag and dug in it. He pulled out a few Pecha Berries and rubbed them on his shirt before walking rather calmly over to Frita. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen her act out in such an unusual way, but it still unnerved him to some degree. She glared at him and he held out a Pecha Berry. “Here. They’re sweet. I know you love sweet things.” She looked down at the berry and back at Steven before slowly taking it. Her eyes dimmed and she seemed to calm down some as she took a bite.

 

Jethro sighed and put a hand to his forehead. “I was going to ask you to give her the paste instead of me,” he said to Steven, “but you have known her for a much longer time than I have. I should’ve asked your advice first.” He looked down at his finger and licked the paste. He stuck out his tongue in disgust and scraped the paste on the edge of the bowl, smacking his lips. “I forgot… I had some Nomel Berries mixed in this thing last time. Didn’t wash it out beforehand.” He spat the paste out of his mouth and poured water in the bowl, washing it out. 

 

Frita had finished the first berry and was eyeing Steven’s hand, which held the other. He handed it to her and she nibbled it. Sycamore came walking quietly over to them. “Is that normal? Because I feel like that was inhuman.” Steven looked over at him. “It’s not the first time I’ve seen her act like this,” he said. “But that is most definitely not a normal human ability Professor. When was the last time you shattered a marble tile and shook a building by stomping?” Sycamore nodded. “Fair enough. I thought that was extremely odd. And the steam...”

 

“Even for as long as I’ve known her, I’ve never seen her do quite that. And is it just me, or did her eyes actually…y’know…glow? As in ‘nightlight in the dark’ glow?” Jethro asked as he and his cousin approached them. “I know she can be incredibly defensive, especially of others, but…to behave like that when offered help? To me, that just seems...illogical. Rash. Slightly inhuman, actually, like you said, Professor. Like some kind of wild Pokemon backed in a corner, afraid and snarling to keep any chance of harm from coming near.”

 

“To be fair, she was poisoned,” Valin said. “That can cause some people to act erratically.” Steven nodded. “She acted this way the last time she was poisoned too. However, I’ve seen her act out like this when she’s not poisoned as well. When she gets her feelings hurt she’ll push everyone away, literally. She’ll throw things too. Things no ordinary human could lift, to try to scare everyone off.” Jethro looked at him in shock. “It’s a good thing I’m not her bodyguard or anything, I could never handle that correctly,” he said. “Is there anyone who can calm her down, or does everyone just evacuate and wait for her to do it herself?”

 

“Only people she completely trusts. Myself, though Keith and Wallace are both better at it than me. Given time she’d probably trust you enough too.” He looked back over at her. She was sitting on a padded bench and had finished the berry. She yawned and looked at him and he nodded at her ever so slightly and smiled. Her chest widened as she sucked in a breath, and a plume black smoke came out of her mouth, still trailing at the edges. She blinked slowly before curling up with her back to them. Her long coat fell over the edge of the bench, revealing her back. Steven started in surprise. 

 

Running down her back, and starting from what he guessed were her shoulder blades, were two good sized stone ridges. They weren’t very high though, and were actually almost flat. Poking out above the waistline of her jeans was a stubby little tail with one tiny ridged bump on it. It wiggled a little before she let out a deep breath and sunk into sleep. 

 

Jethro looked at Steven’s expression with a confused look. He followed his gaze and had to put a hand over his mouth to keep from gasping too loud. He squeezed his eyes shut and put a hand on Steven’s shoulder, eventually getting his bearings again. “Please tell me I’m dreaming,” he muttered. He opened his eyes, his face solemn. “There’s gotta be a Darkrai or a Hypno around here somewhere, and this has got to be some kind of...illusion…” he trailed off, hanging his head. “‘Fraid not. I see it too,” Sycamore said, staring at Frita. “She’s got a tail and stone plates on her back.” Jethro halfheartedly glared at him. “Thank you, Captain Obvious.” Sycamore shot him a look and quietly walked closer to Frita to look at her back. Steven followed him and they both crouched down to take a look at the stone plates. 

 

“I thought her shoulder felt unnaturally hard,” Jethro muttered. “And even when I gave her to it. “How…?!” Sycamore stood, looking at him. “What’s wrong?” Steven turned back to him, that back rub last night, her shoulder blades seemed...well, I thought they were her shoulder blades poking out.” He put a hand to his mouth and shifted his weight. Steven put a hand on her back for a minute and then his eyes widened. He grabbed her now limp wrist and put two fingers completely flabbergasted. “She’s not breathing, but her pulse hasn’t changed at all.” As he finished, he put her arm back down and frowned. “And she’s ridiculously warm.”

 

“So we were pretty much on the mark with ‘inhuman’, it seems,” Jethro muttered. “So what exactly is she, if not human?” Sycamore looked up at him. “That seems to be the question of the hour. I’ll go down to the library and see what I might be able to dig up based on her reactions to things.” He got up and left. He had been gone for less than five minutes when a large group of people in ridiculous red costumes showed up. They were all dressed identically and wore sunglasses. Jethro and his cousin both drew their swords, taking defensive positions in front of Steven and Frita, their Pokemon gathering next to them. 

 

“Valin?” Jethro asked his cousin. “Yeah?” Jethro glanced at him.“These the guys you were talking about earlier?” Valin nodded. “Yeah, these be the ones.” Jethro turned his attention back to them. “Figured as much.” The grunts released every Pokemon they had, sending them all into battle against the entire group. Steven unleashed his own Pokemon and stood beside Jethro and Valin. “If you want anything, you’ll have to go through us!” he bellowed. “You’ve got three Champions standing between you and whatever it is you want, folks!” Jethro roared. “You’re biting off more than you can chew!” The newcomers unleashed a barrage of attacks, throwing up a huge cloud of dust at them. Jethro side-stepped in front of Steven and tapped the armor on his shoulder. A small force field appeared around them, preventing dust from getting in their eyes.

 

“Nice touch,” Steven said. “I tinker in my spare time,” Jethro smirked. The dust cleared, and Jethro straightened up, deactivating the force field. There was no one there. All the intruders had disappeared. “Don’t tell me. I know,” he said, returning his Pokemon. He looked up slightly and slumped his weight on one leg. “That was all a diversion and something’s gone, right?” Steven looked at him like he was speaking an alien language, and then turned around. His eyes widened and he barreled out of the front doors, his fists clenched in fury. Jethro and Valin followed him out and looked up and down the street, but the goons seemed to have disappeared into thin air. “They took Frita!”


	9. Failed Destruction

Steven panicked, first jogging a few steps one way, and then the other. He had no idea how to proceed and it terrified him. Jethro tried his best to console the man. “Don’t worry,” he looked more determined than ever. “We’ll find her.” Steven halfheartedly nodded and took a deep breath.

* * *

 

Meanwhile, Lainey sat in the underground transit car with the rest of the scientists. They had built the system before she had come to this world, and as she gently rocked with its movement, memories flashed through her mind. 

 

_ She had been an ordinary Pokémon Ranger, with her trusty Lucario. Things had been fine, until a crazed maniac with hair like a Pyroar mane had fired a giant weapon that had wiped out nearly everything. It was only by the strength of her Lucario’s Protect that either of them survived. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of people and Pokémon just...snuffed out. She had been devastated. _

 

_ She had spent a few weeks scrounging out a meager existence with Cairo until she had come across a strange little Pokémon with horns on it’s head. It was pink and dark blue-gray, with golden rings hanging from its arms and horns. It had big eyes and an unnerving grin. It had given no explanation and had simply flung a ring at her. That ring had grown to an enormous size, and had sucked her and Cairo in like a big round vacuum. They had been plopped out in a familiar and yet entirely foreign landscape, and were immediately contacted by the Pokémon Rangers. _

 

_ After a brief meeting, things had been sorted out, emotions had flooded over things, and eventually she had come to work to prevent the destruction of this world as an undercover agent with Cairo. _

 

She turned, looking down. The still slumbering Grand Champion was beside her, wrapped in a series of gold containment rings. It was so strange to her. Frida Warmheart had been perfectly normal, but this world’s version of her, Frita Warmhart was entirely inhuman. It made her wonder if things would have turned out differently for her if the two had been switched around. Even their personalities were opposites. Her Frida was quiet and reserved and this one was...quite frankly rambunctious, reckless, and all around overwhelming. She just hoped this plan worked. She had no idea how the Grand Champion would survive the destruction of the ancient weapon, but if the scans of her energy levels were accurate, she would probably be fine. Even if she wasn’t, the Rangers had prepared a statement to cover all of it up anyway.

 

She looked up as the train began to slow and come to a stop. She was greeted by Lysandre as several grunts hauled the sleeping Grand Champion off the train. They were straining under her weight, which Lainey dismissed. “She’s prepped and ready to go, sir.” Lysandre nodded. “Excellent. Take her to the chamber,” he gestured at the grunts, who lifted Frita up again.

 

When Lysandre was gone, Lainey looked up at the air vent where a girl and her Lucario had been hiding. Cairo was far more experienced than this one, and had picked up the aura disturbance almost immediately. Judging by their auras, these two were here to help Frita. Lainey had Cairo establish a telepathic link.  _ “Listen carefully, there’s not much time. Lysandre’s going to use her as a power source for a massive weapon, but I can delay them for a short time, allowing your friends to take action against him if they get here soon enough. You need to hurry and contact them before everything gets destroyed!” _

 

With that she turned and followed the grunts as they carted Frita off to a test chamber. She delayed the test for as long as she could, but as the Grand Champion began to stir, Lysandre became insistent and the testing was started. Frita thrashed upon regaining consciousness and glared at Lysandre with a glowing green gaze.

 

He shivered, feeling the same power he had the first time she’d stared at him, but he knew what it was now and the fear of the unknown was no longer holding him in place as it had before. “Load her into the chamber.” With that he turned away, ascending to the top of the stairs so he could watch the test. After several very painful tests had been done, Lysandre was satisfied and shot Frita point blank with a tranquilizer dart. As she passed out again, things were going far faster than Lainey had wanted them to. Everything was moving too quickly, despite her lagging and procrastinating. She began to get antsy. 

 

There was a loud boom and a rumble, then alarms began to sound. One of the Team Flare members came over the loudspeaker saying Building A had been attacked. After that, Lysandre ordered everyone to the transit system and stated they were moving to the secret base. He hefted Frita over one shoulder and they rushed down a hallway, only to run directly into the girl Lainey had seen earlier. She was in a defensive position, and had drawn a small blade.

 

_ ‘Stupid girl! She’ll never be able to confront Lysandre directly, not like this!’ _

 

“Let Frita go, you overgrown nutcase!” Lysandre shook his head. “You don’t understand, none of you do. It’s not like I want to do this, but this is all necessary. For the world!”

  
  
“Same story with all the other psychopaths we’ve come across,” the girl scoffed. “Only they never used a human being as a power source!” Lysandre gave a condescending smirk. “That’s where you’re mistaken, I’m afraid. The Grand Champion is far from human.” He went for a Pokeball from his jacket pocket. 

  
  
“I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean,” she said, raising her sword, “but I’ll sort it out with Jethro later.” Lysandre lowered his hand for an underhanded toss, but a split second before the ball opened, a Pikachu leapt out from an air vent and smacked it back at him. 

 

Pyroar burst from the ball, falling directly onto him and knocking himself and Frita onto the floor. The scientists tried to release their own Pokemon, but a Lucario came up from behind them and kicked them all to the ground. Just as it landed, it was tackled from behind by Cairo, slamming it into the Pikachu. The girl glared at Lainey who darted her eyes from Lysandre and back to her.

 

_ ‘Believe me, I didn’t want to have to do this. But I can’t risk having my cover blown. I’m sorry.’  _ The girl rolled her eyes, showing a good deal of attitude for such an important fight. She lunged at Lainey, who easily knocked her off balance and tossed her into the wall, knocking the wind out of her. Lysandre and the scientists got up, groaning, and Pyroar was returned to its Pokeball.

 

“What should we do with her?” Lysandre turned to one of the scientists, but before he could answer the question there was a voice from down the hall.

 

**“LYSANDRE!”** It was Jethro Striker, with his male friend and the Hoenn Champion, Steven Stone. They were surrounded by Pokémon, and a grunt was swinging from the mouth of a shiny Tyranitar. As they came barreling down the hallway, Lysandre grabbed Frita and ran. “Forget about her! We leave now!” He jumped into the transit car with the others. Lainey just managed to squeeze in as the doors slid closed. A Blaziken was rapidly approaching with a punch at the ready, but the attack bounced feebly off the reinforced fiberglass as the car sped away.

 

Lainey sat down, letting out a sigh. She looked up to see Lysandre toss Frita on the floor of the car like a ragdoll.  _ ‘I suppose the way he treats her doesn’t matter to him. He has a bit of a point. I doubt she would’ve felt that even if she were awake.’ _ It was a fairly short ride to their secret base below Geosenge. When the car stopped, Lysandre threw Frita over his shoulder again and hauled her into the lab and down to the source chamber, where the core of the ancient weapon was. 

 

He dumped her onto the floor and ordered the scientists to fit her into the body suit they had made. It seemed ridiculous, to change her clothes, but the suit was fitted with nodes to receive the plugs on the inside of the chamber that would be used to syphon power from the Grand Champion. The suit was also designed to be highly conductive with Frita’s natural power, making it even easier to take it. After changing her clothes, they loaded Frita into the machine. The plugs automatically connected to the nodes set in the suit almost immediately, and the initial surge of power was more than enough to start the weapon up and raise it to the surface. Through the video cameras, Lysandre could see it had knocked over several cabins, a trivial matter to him.

 

He started up the Holocaster program and made a broadcast about his plan to cleanse the world of cruel, selfish people and return it to it’s rightful beauty. It was a pity that he had lost Elite Four Malva, he could have put her to good use in his new world. She had refused to be a part of his plan after she had learned all the details. Likewise, all of Alain’s hard work to research Mega Evolution was still relevant, but the boy himself was another story. He was rambunctious and reckless and a loose cannon that Lysandre couldn’t afford. He had already left, after finding that his air headed little companion’s Chespin had ruined Lysandre’s experiment with the Legendary Pokémon, Zygarde, and had suffered ill side effects.

 

Lysandre started up the energy syphon system, causing Frita’s muscles to involuntarily lock up. After a few minutes, the process brought her back to the waking world, and she screeched in utter agony. Everyone in the building covered their ears, wincing. The noise was so loud it nearly shattered the glass of the observation deck, let alone the chamber itself.

 

Frita wanted to flail, but her muscles were locked up so tight she couldn’t move. She could barely think. All she really COULD do was scream, so she did. It felt like her body was being viciously ripped apart atom by atom. After a few more minutes, she couldn’t even scream anymore. She was barely able to keep conscious, and her vision was blurry and fading. She was aware of her own heartbeat pounding in her head painfully and what sounded like a lot of commotion. She had no idea how long it had been since she had been put into this machine, whatever it was, and had lost all sense of time.

 

And then she could hear Steven’s voice. It sounded so far away, like he was across a big field and was calling to her from the other side. She opened her eyes, which she had closed a while ago apparently, and looked down. She could just make out his silvery hair and the glint of the metal on his clothing. He called her name again and she tried to answer him, but she was so tired and in so much pain. She couldn’t manage to get the words out.

 

As she watched, a large black and orange blob appeared behind Steven. Her brain worked at a Slugma’s pace, and she realized too late that the shape was Lysandre. Her eyes widened and she tried to call to Steven to warn him as the big man stealthily bore down on him. “Ste…,” she tried. She could barely hear her own voice. “Ste...v...en…” It wasn’t enough. He couldn’t hear her, and he was so wrapped up in trying to figure out how to free her that he didn’t know Lysandre was there until an arm locked around his throat and lifted him off the ground, choking the life out of him.

 

Steven flailed wildly, but it wasn’t enough to free himself, and slowly he began fighting less and less. Tears filled Frita’s eyes and rage filled her body. She could feel the well of power it gave her and she began to fight the machine, feeding it far too much power. As it began to overload, someone shut it down, stopping the power syphon and causing the plugs to suddenly release, dropping Frita from the center of the chamber straight to the bottom. She hit like a small meteor, crushing the bottom of the machine and shattering the glass of the chamber.

 

She got shakily to her feet, her arms limp and swinging back and forth as she swayed, trying to stay upright. Her face was filled with rage, and her body glowed slightly. Her arms glowed brighter, turning a gently glowing red-orange with lighter patches, like Primal Groudon’s back. They widened until they reached her hands, which were much larger, with long claws on the end of each finger. Steam shot out of her nose and she fixed Lysandre in her furious gaze. 

 

He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything a bright orange beam shot from Frita’s mouth. It never came close to touching him, but it still managed to singe his hair without physically making contact. As it hit the large metal doors behind him, it made a massive hole, which continued in the far wall of the room beyond, and a good distance into the stone behind it. As Lysandre turned, he dropped Steven, more out of shock than fear. It slowly clicked in his brain that the beam hadn’t been raw power, or a Pokémon-esque attack, or anything similar. It had been condensed heat. She was able to condense and fire sheer heat into a deadly beam. It had melted both rock and solid steel. 

 

While Lysandre tried to process what he was seeing, Steven had managed to choke and cough enough to be able to breathe again. He had been close to passing out until Frita had freed him. He looked up at her. She was crouching beside him, and her eyes were glowing brightly. She let out a breath, the air hot on Steven’s face. “F-Frita?” She gave him a sympathetic look and leaned against him. He was warm, and surprisingly sturdy, and she was so exhausted. She knew it couldn’t last though, not with Lysandre so close. And he had taken more than enough energy to fire the weapon twice, maybe three times if he wanted to.

 

He was staring directly at her, and she glared at him while slowly getting to her feet. “Enough.” Her voice was hoarse and barely audible, but Lysandre seemed to have heard her. He shook his head. “No.” He was horrendously calm, and it unnerved Frita greatly. She noticed he had donned a pair of strange orange glasses and some sort of backpack-like machine. Frita’s reaction time was horrible after her power loss, and she couldn’t process what was happening fast enough to get out of the way as several Combee-like appendages shot from the machine and grabbed her. Their pointy little claws latched onto her skin and the large circular ridges in the middle began draining power from her. She screeched, trying to flail but ending up unsuccessful. 

 

In a flash, the glass of the observation deck shattered and two Pokemon came flying through it. They destroyed the machine’s arms in one motion, setting Frita free again. As she fell forward, she landed on something furry. She looked up to see her Arcanine, growling menacingly at Lysandre who was inching toward the now opened doors. 

 

The other Pokémon, Steven’s Metagross, was tending to it’s trainer. Just as Lysandre turned to run, he was stopped by the approach of one completely furious Jethro. He had drawn his sword, and his intent at stopping Lysandre no matter what was clear. “Where do you think you’re going?” Lysandre backed up a few steps, looking between Archaic and Jethro. He looked down and closed his eyes before grinning. “I don’t really need to go anywhere. I can accomplish my plan from right here.” Jethro frowned at him, “What-?” Lysandre pulled back his sleeve to reveal a control device, which he activated. There was a heavy rumble and the ceiling of the chamber began to glow.

 

Outside, Charlie and Rayquaza started into action as the flower-like weapon started to glow. The light spread from its center down its “petals” until the whole machine lit up a pale orange. The ground quaked, and the glow suddenly drained back into the center of the machine before it fired a massive blast directly upward. As the two Pokémon followed the blast, it rose into the upper atmosphere before looping back down toward Kalos. Rayquaza tried blasting it, which reduced the size of the blast, but at the rate it was going, it would still destroy most of the region.

 

There was no time for another try at breaking it up, and Charlie made a split second decision as the blast neared Kalos. He dove under it, a tear falling from his eye, and flared his wings to stop himself. The blast crashed into him with an explosion of white-orange lightning and flung the massive Pokémon straight into the ground with a rumble. As the dust cleared, Rayquaza landed next to the Charizard, sniffing at him. His tail flame was out, and he was motionless. Rayquaza roared in anger and attacked the weapon, breaking parts of the strange crystals. While the Pokèmon broke pieces of the weapon, it began to cave in on itself and sink underground.

* * *

 

Meanwhile, Frita, Jethro, and Steven had heard Rayquaza’s roar. “What did you do?!!” Jethro roared, raising his blade. Frita gasped, a terrible feeling washing over her. She shook her head, confused as the feelings brought tears to her eyes for a reason she didn’t yet know. There was a rumble, and the chamber began collapsing around them. If it went, the whole base would go with it. Frita shook her head and let out a roar, forcing Jethro, Lysandre, and Steven out of the room. “Frita wait-!” Jethro yelled as she threw him into the hallway with Lysandre and Steven. “Frita!” Steven yelled to her. “Go!” She rasped, coughing. “Go.” 

 

To keep them from coming back in, Frita raised the temperature in the room until it was unbearably hot for any ordinary human. With the heat keeping them out and the building collapsing, they had no choice but to leave her there. Steven got on Archaic’s back and Jethro ran while Metagross grabbed and restrained Lysandre. They rushed from the quickly collapsing building along with their friends and the Team Flare grunts.

 

Frita sucked in a breath as they left, and let herself sink into her full form, growing massive enough to support the weapon for a few precious minutes before it became too heavy and caused the base to collapse in on itself.  _ ‘At least they’ll be ok. I saved them. I saved  _ **_him_ ** _.’  _ She let out an exhausted breath as the weapon fell on her.

 

Outside, everyone was met with a sad sight as Jethro’s shiny Rayquaza circled Charlie, roaring and howling. Steven’s eyes widened. “The crash earlier…” There was a great smashing, grating and rumbling sound as the giant weapon sunk into the earth. It was accompanied by a loud, pitiful, painful roar. And then there was silence.


	10. Heartache

Steven’s heart sank as he heard the noise, and he rushed to the edge of the sinkhole to peer into it. “Frita? Frita?!” His shoulders slumped as the silence hung after his cries. He turned to look at Charlie, lying motionless in a crater on the ground. He shook his head, unable to accept what had happened.  _ ‘No. Not both of them. Not at the same time. No. NO!’  _ He shook his head wildly, the shock still fading. He hadn’t been particularly close with Charlie, but knowing Frita meant knowing her Charizard. They were as close as trainer and Pokemon could be. He remembered when he had first met the Pokemon. 

 

_ It had scared him senseless, erupting from the ocean and roaring, and he had been even more flustered when the massive Pokemon had licked him, coating him in sticky Charizard spit. He had had to throw out the suit he had been wearing, because the smell wouldn’t come out of it. It had taken him a week and a half just to get it out of his hair for that matter. He had gotten much more used to the Pokemon after that, and was more than capable of handling him outside of battle. He and Frita had flown around on his back more than once. _

 

His suit jacket had slid halfway off, hanging off his arms as he turned back to the sinkhole and stared down into the darkness. Several sharp spires of crystal rose out of it like angry thorns or teeth, and he shivered. Lysandre was still restrained by his Metagross, but he was mumbling to himself. Out of nowhere, Metagross took a harsh Flamethrower to the back, causing it to release the big man. Lysandre’s Pyroar viciously attacked Metagross, which caused a complete chaos, allowing Lysandre to slip away. As Steven turned, he saw Lysandre staggering toward him. “Lysandre, stop.” He called out to the man. He was rambling on like a crazy man. He took his strange orange glasses off, flinging them at the ground so hard that he broke them. “It’s your fault!” He pointed straight at Steven.

 

Everyone turned to look at the two of them. “What? How is any of this my fault?!” Steven’s pain surged forward as false rage, and he ended up yelling at the man, which was the wrong move. Lysandre rushed at him, catching Steven off guard and flinging him over the edge of the sinkhole. “Steven!” Jethro yelled, lurching forward, but he was too far away. Everyone was, and Steven yelled as he tumbled into the pit. He was about to be shishkabobbed when something caught him by his suit vest. “Whoa-oa-oa!” He managed as his momentum caused him to swing back and forth like a pendulum. 

 

As he swung, he could feel hot breath leaking through his vest and the back of his shirt. He tried to twist to see what it was that was holding him, but he couldn’t get at the right angle. Everyone’s eyes widened as a red-orange creature scaled the crystals until it leapt out of the pit with Steven hanging from it’s jaws. It was Lysandre’s height, with a heavier build. It was Frita. She dropped Steven on the ground, and he turned to look up at her. She had a Groudon like build, but taller and thinner, with legs like a Charizard and long arms that widened into large paws with claws on each of the five stubby fingers. She had a thick, prehensile tail that lashed back and forth. It had a line of ridges running down it, and ended in a little bulb shape. 

 

Two stone fins ran down her back, the angle of them wider at the top. They glowed red from the middle, and looked hollow. Her head was like a Salamence’s, but wider and flat. From the back of it rose seven horn-like protrusions, the longest one being in the middle and the shortest on the ends. From behind it burst a collar of flame, like her Typhlosion’s. She snorted, the steam shooting downward as she lowered her head. Her nose was nothing more than two slits at the end of her snout. As she opened her mouth to suck in a breath, Steven could see that all her teeth were completely identical perfect triangles.

 

“Fri...ta?” He looked up at her. She looked down at him. Her eyes were shaped like upside-down trapezoids, and were black as night except for two thin rings of intensely glowing green. As he watched, the glow drained from them until it was just a vertical strip at the bottom of each one before quickly lighting up the entire eye.  _ ‘Did it..she? Did she just blink?’  _ As he watched, she did it again. She went to take a step toward him before wincing hard. Shards of the weapon were stuck in her arm and leg, and magma oozed from them. It pooled on the ground, forming a puddle before solidifying. Very carefully, she pulled all five shards loose, dropping them on the ground.

 

As she turned, Steven could see Lysandre eyeing her with a murderous gaze. He was still mumbling to himself as Jethro inched closer to him. As the big man turned to him, his pupils nothing but pinpricks, Jethro decked him with a nasty right hook and he tumbled to the ground. He turned to them “That felt  **_so_ ** good. Been wanting to do that for a long time now.” It didn’t keep Lysandre down for too long, and he soon got back up, cackling insanely. He pulled back the control device on his sleeve and pushed another button. Frita growled at him, but before she could do anything, she looked up to see Charlie...and her heart shattered. She shrunk, regaining her humanoid form, still stuck in the ridiculous body suit. Her Pokemon had gathered around him, and as she came close to him, she could feel that his nose was cold. “No…”

 

She fell to her knees, falling over his snout, and she wept. She wailed and cried and screeched. It was a terrible, agonizing, heartbreaking sound, and Steven couldn’t stand it. She wailed until she couldn't wail anymore and cried until she had no tears left and kept trying anyway. Who could blame her though? She had raised Charlie from an egg. She had hatched him and loved him and they had been together for practically their entire lives. They were like one soul split into two bodies. Frita had lost half of herself in losing Charlie. Half her heart was gone. Her voice gave out, and the only noise she could make after that was a pitiful, quiet, whiny rasping sound.

 

Steven grabbed at his chest. Just hearing her let him feel her pain, and it was killing him. Her quiet sobbing was drowned out by a loud screech and a dark red glow. Lysandre cackled as the Pokemon of Destruction itself, Yveltal, circled above them. It screeched, letting loose an Oblivion Wing that destroyed part of the surrounding area. Frita fixed Lysandre in her sights. She blamed him, and why wouldn’t she? It was his fault that Charlie was like this. Her rage seethed, and boiled over, causing her to change back to her original form again. This time, however, she had reached her full size. And she was huge. She was even bigger than Charlie had been, big enough in fact to have eaten Yveltal in one bite if she were able to catch a hold of it.

 

Yveltal launched another Oblivion Wing, directly at Frita. She took the hit directly, but instead of draining the life out of her like it did with Pokemon, she just took the blast. She swatted at the Pokemon, but missed. Her rage boiled up, quite literally as molten hot lava spewed from the fins on her back, melting several of the rocks surrounding the town. Yveltal launched another series of attacks, mostly Dark Pulse, all of them hitting Frita head on. She roared in pain, her defenses having been weakened by the machine, and slammed into Yveltal with her tail.

 

It screeched, using Wing Attack on her several times, before blasting her with another Oblivion Wing. She roared in fury and retaliated by reaching up with her head and snapping at it, just managing to grab the Pokemon by the wing in her jaws. It flailed wildly until she shook her head like a Sharpedo, and then flung it straight into the ground before stomping it flat. It fainted under her massive bulk, and she stumbled backward. She shrunk back down, stumbling and swaying. The machine hadn’t just drained her energy, it had drained her very life force, and she was using up what little she had left too fast.

 

As she fell, Steven caught her, falling to his knees as she fell on his lap. Thick black smoke came out of her mouth as she coughed and her breath was wheezy at best. He leaned back a little, the smoke hadn’t gotten in his face but it smelled rancid, like sickness, even from a bit of a distance. The smoke trailed at the corners of her mouth and she coughed again. She wheezed before getting into another coughing fit that ended up with more black smoke. Sweetpea had waddled over to them, holding Frita’s bag, which he had taken from the base before they left. Someone had stuffed all her regular clothes in it, and her coat was hanging out of the top.

 

Now that Steven looked around, he could see all of Frita’s Pokemon surrounding them, except for Charlie, who was still. Jethro’s Rayquaza was sitting next to him, it’s head down. Steven looked down at Frita, his face twisting with sadness. “Frita?” She tried to move her arm, but didn’t have the strength. “I’m...so cold, Steven...so cold…” Her voice was so quiet he could barely hear her. He pulled her to him, and realized his cheeks were wet.  _ ‘I’m crying.’  _  He tried to stop himself, but it was impossible. He was so stressed and so upset that he just couldn’t stop. So he let the tears come, sucking in a shaky breath and sniffing. They ran down his face and landed on Frita’s cheeks and she very slowly reached up to his face to wipe them away.

 

She dug in her bag, Sweetpea helping her, until she pulled out a very tiny ball of fluff. It was a plushie that Steven had bought her a long time ago, and it made him cry even more to see it. It was old and terribly worn, with several unidentifiable stains on it. Some sort of orange stain, probably pizza sauce, had been spilled on one of its little blue embroidered eyes. Most of the minky material had been worn away, leaving flat fabric behind. It had several tears, which Frita had obviously tried to fix herself, ultimately failing, and it’s little fur collar wasn’t poofy anymore. Overall, it had been poorly taken care of, but that just showed how much love it had gotten.

 

Steven’s face twisted up, and he sniffed and snorted again, trying not to cry more. Frita hugged the little plushie to her chest. He had seen her do that once, when she had fallen asleep on Wallace’s couch while they were visiting him. She always slept with it curled to her chest it seemed, keeping it close so she could love it as if it were the real thing. He remembered when he had bought the plush for her.

 

_ They hadn’t known each other long, but they had been friends long enough that Steven had spent some time with her. She had just returned from Sinnoh, having completely dominated the Pokemon League with her Charizard, and was passing through Hoenn on her way home to Kanto to take a break. They had gone to Slateport, to spend the day at the beach because that was what she had wanted to do. Now that she knew him a little better, she was much more confident with herself and with spending time with him. _

 

_ He had insisted that if they were going to be at Slateport that they should really visit the Slateport Bazaar. She had happily agreed, and when they had been looking at the Vendor carts, she had noticed the plushie. She had loved it immediately, and had asked what kind of Pokemon it was. Steven had told her all about it, as he had wanted to catch one at that time to examine what kinds of minerals were stuck in the sides of its body, and she had looked at him with complete admiration. He had offered to buy her the plush, which she at first refused, but he had insisted. Thinking back on it now, he knew why he had, but back then he couldn’t figure out why he was so intent on making her happy. The first thing she had done when she received the plushie was hug it tightly, and jump up and down like a five year old little girl. _

 

Thinking back on it brought a sad smile to Steven’s face. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked over to see Jethro and the others kneeling beside them, also with sad smiles on their faces. “We’re right here, Frita,” the young woman said, putting a hand to her shoulder. “You’re with friends now. We’ll take good care of you.” Jethro scooted over to Frita’s other side, smiling though his own tears. “Hey, don’t forget, we still haven’t had that rematch you promised me,” he said gently. “You’re not gonna throw in the towel on me are ya?”

 

Frita looked around, her face showing a gentle smile. She sighed, smoke coming from her mouth, and her eyes glittered like stars. She looked back up at Steven and her eyes caught his Mega Stickpin. Her own memories flashed across her eyes.

 

_ The first time she had met Steven, and her embarrassment at everything that had happened that day. The first time she had met Wallace, and she had freaked out when he had hugged her and Steven and Wallace had gotten into a physical fight over it. It wasn’t a real fight, but it sure was funny, seeing them tussle like brothers. The day she had visited Steven in Mossdeep and they had sat on the hill just below the Space Center to watch a meteor shower, and she had pretended to be asleep as she leaned on his shoulder, getting him to relax enough to untense his muscles. He had put an arm around her and rubbed her shoulder.  _

 

_ She had visited his house once, and had helped with his research until she had fallen asleep on his couch. She had woken up tucked into his bed and had freaked out until she found him sleeping under a throw on his couch. She had brushed his shaggy hair out of his face and kissed him on the head, and he had given a little moan and rolled over. She remembered the day they had gotten her plushie, and how happy she had been to see the tiny little Pokemon. She remembered the day Steven had shown her his Carbink that he had caught, and she had loved it immediately. She got along well with Steven’s Carbink, and whenever she was near Steven it would let itself out of its ball so she could hold it. _

 

_ There had been one day, when she had tripped and fallen right into him. She had knocked him over and had landed on top of him, their faces inches apart and she had almost died of horror. And then there was the first time she had jumped on him Pignite back style. He had nearly dropped her out of shock and when she wouldn’t let go he verbally flailed, unsure of what to do. She still teased him about it sometimes. It was an inside joke between them, every time she went “Karp Karp Karp!” to imitate a flailing Magikarp. He’d swat at her and tell her to stop and they would both smile and laugh. She remembered all the happy times, and a couple bad ones too.  _

 

_ She remembered the fight they had had over her bracelet, and how Steven had come to apologize. Wallace had insisted he leave right as Steven showed up, telling them something about needing to buy eggs or something to let them talk it out themselves, that sly son of a Bidoof. When he came back to see them laughing hysterically at the most random stuff he had been more than satisfied. And then he had proceeded to hit on Steven, who had been like “NO.” Frita had cracked up at that, and had fallen out of her chair laughing so hard, which had made Steven laugh even harder.  _

 

_ She remembered when she had found out how ticklish Steven was, which had been hysterical, until he realized she was equally ticklish and had ambushed her out of nowhere. She had flailed like Feebas out of water, and had accidentally hit him in the face. She had felt so darn guilty about it, but Steven had waved her off, stating he was fine even though she knew she had hit him pretty hard. At one point, Devon had held a company party and Steven’s dad had insisted he bring a date. It took him nearly twenty minutes to ask her, and when he had finally blurted it out his face had been bright red. She had accepted after blushing herself and Wallace, obnoxious little Shuppet that he was, had jumped at the chance to make fun of them. _

 

_ She had been so embarrassed when she had shown up. She had been unsure of what to wear, and so had picked her favorite dress. It was orange, and made to resemble the Pokemon Moltres, with a flared, multilevel, yellow, red, and orange partially sheer skirt and sheer sleeves made of red cloth. She had put her hair up, and wore a hair clip that looked a lot like Moltres’ flames. She had shyly gone up to the floor the party was on, and had hung in the door, inching her way into the room until she had spotted Steven. He was holding a champagne and had turned when the man he was talking to had looked over Steven’s shoulder. He had dropped the drink when he had seen her, shattering the glass all over the floor and scaring the living daylights out of himself. Flustered, he had hurriedly picked up all the pieces of glass. _

 

_ And yet again Wallace had shown up to be a pain in the butt. He had grabbed Frita by the shoulders, letting his arms hang down across them, as he wrapped her in a loose hug. She had jumped and stood there awkwardly until Steven had come back. They had gotten into a tiny name-calling fight, and ultimately Wallace had been so involved that he had let go of Frita, at which point Steven had rescued her. “Checkmate.” He had said, turning on his heel and walking away with Frita on his arm. The rest of the evening was pleasant, and they had spent a lot of time away from the party, just talking. _

  
Frita was cold, so cold. She couldn’t shiver, she didn’t have the strength. She could feel herself fading, and tears came to her eyes and ran down her cheeks. Steven’s eyes had widened and he had gripped her knee a little tighter, only to find it very solid. He looked down in horror to see her legs slowly turning to stone.  _ ‘No! No, no, no! Is this because of Yveltal?! How do I stop it?’  _ He began to sob as he realized there was nothing he could do. Frita clutched at his suit jacket and he looked her right in the eyes. She was smiling a sad smile, and though she couldn’t bring herself to talk, she mouthed a set of three words. And Steven’s heart broke as Frita’s turned to stone.


	11. Yveltal's Rage

Steven wailed, pulling her close to him. She was completely stone now. He sobbed, wailing and rocking back and forth with her in his arms. “Why?! Why her?!” He yelled, his face scrunching up with grief and pain. Frita’s and his own Pokemon wailed and cried right along with him. Steven looked up for a moment. Jethro stood very still, fighting to keep his own tears in his eyes. He closed them, wiping the tears off as they rolled down his cheeks. He let out a short sob, and then inhaled sharply and held it a moment. Rayquaza continued to lay by Charlie, sobbing quietly to itself. Jethro’s Blaziken and Metagross stood next to it, Blaziken’s hand on the Legendary’s neck in sympathy. Metagross hardly moved, its head lowering after seconds of stillness. Torterra walked over to them slowly, its face solemn. Garchomp and Tyranitar stood by Lysandre, their faces full of anger. The Lucarios of both Jethro’s allies stood next to each other, their appendages on their heads hovering, obviously in meditation.

 

Jethro put a hand on Frita’s stone shoulder and tried to smile, failing miserably as his lips quivered, a sob escaping his mouth. He hung his head and closed his eyes. “Who’s going to call me ‘Jet’ now?” he muttered. “And I was going to…” he looked up at Steven and quickly looked away. “Yeah, no, that-- not the right-- ah, that’s not gonna help, I’m gonna--” he stuttered. He sighed and got up. “I never was too good at forever goodbyes,” he muttered to himself. Steven looked back down at Frita and pulled her close again. He heard a tiny chuckle and looked up. Lysandre was grinning like a Gengar.

 

Seeing it broke Steven. He gently set Frita down and stood, his rage was obvious in his cold pale blue eyes. He walked very slowly toward Lysandre at first then picked up speed until he was barreling at the man full force. He hit Lysandre like a train, his knee sinking solidly in the man’s gut as the jumped to slug him straight in the face. He screeched in rage and flung himself at Lysandre as he hit the ground from the first punch. He slugged Lysandre over and over again until he had nearly turned his face into hamburger meat, not surprising when he was wearing solid steel rings. And then someone pulled Steven off of him. He whirled in a rage, striking out at a familiar face. He was consumed with rage and grief, and it didn’t really matter to him who he was hitting anymore.

 

The same person who pulled him off Lysandre proceeded to slap him so hard his vision went blurry for a second. As he looked up at who had hit him, his eyes widened as he slowly returned to his senses. It was Wallace, obviously angry at him for the punch he had taken. “Get a hold of yourself, Steven!” Steven turned to face him, rage bubbling up again. “How can you say that? How can you say that when it’s HIS fault that Frita is...is gone?!” He yelled in Wallace’s face and the Gym Leader glared at him. “You think I don’t hurt?! You think I don’t wanna murder this...this monster myself?! But that won’t solve anything! It won’t bring her back! And she would never want you to cross that line, Steven!” Steven growled at him. “You have no idea WHAT she would have wanted!” Wallace slapped him again, the sting lingering in Steven’s face. “DON’T YOU TELL ME THAT! YOU  **KNOW** THAT SHE WOULD NEVER WANT THAT!  **YOU KNOW IT!** ” Steven was breathing heavily, and he fell to his knees as a wave of grief hit him again.

 

“Why?” he muttered, “Why her?” Wallace sighed, his turquoise eyes glazed with sadness. “I don’t know, Steven. I don’t know.” Wallace’s Swanna, likely the Pokemon he had gotten there on, was snuggled up to Frita’s stone body. It’s head was hung in sadness. There was a soft stream of mumbling and laughter. Steven gazed over at Lysandre furiously, and the psychopath stared right back at him.

 

“Even if my ultimate plan failed,” he cackled, “I’ve still won! Your friend is dead! The last of the Golems has been wiped from existence! You never stood a ch-- hrk!” Faster than anyone could process, Jethro had walked behind the man, who was on his knees at the time, and unleashed a devastating roundhouse kick to his head, knocking him out cold as he collapsed to the ground and lay still. Jethro looked to Wallace and Steven and smirked, straightening his shirt.

 

“Now THAT felt good!” he said proudly. “Been waiting to shut him up.” Wallace smirked sadly at him. “I suppose Frita would have approved of that…” Jethro shrugged. “Perhaps, perhaps not,” he said. “I’m betting she would have chuckled at me doing it at least, given what he did to her. Look, Wallace, I know it’s not that moral, but I didn’t want to take the time to encase him in an Ice Beam.” Wallace nodded, turning away to look at Frita, and then at Charlie. He walked slowly over to the Pokemon and placed a gentle hand on his nose. He frowned. Charlie’s nose was warm. “I have a feeling things are going to get worse.” He called over his shoulder. As he spoke, Charlie’s eyes slowly slid open and he moaned. He hadn’t been dead as everyone had first thought, but he had been close. It had taken him a while to regain consciousness. 

 

Jethro’s Rayquaza roared in delight and smiled at the Pokemon, but the moment was brief. Steven gave the Pokemon a pitiful look as he looked around, confused. He very slowly got to his feet. And then everything went to Hellgar as he saw Frita. His big red eyes welled up with tears and he howled, plopping back on his rear in front of her. He sat and cried and cried and cried more. In fact, he had more tears than anyone thought a Fire Type could have. Steven sat with him, and after a while there was a rustling behind them. They turned, not particularly interested until they saw what it was that had made the sound.

 

Yveltal had gotten back to its feet, glaring at them in fury. The angry Pokemon let out a screech when it saw Frita’s stone body and flapped its wings. It wanted revenge, and now it couldn’t have it. It decided to take its rage out on the first thing it saw after that, which happened to be Steven and Charlie. It fired a Dark Pulse at them first blasting Charlie away, the weakened Pokemon unable to fight back, and then turned on Steven.  _ ‘Why is everyone blaming and trying to kill me?! I haven’t done anything! I should be the one attacking!’  _ Steven dove as the Pokemon fired another attack, narrowly missing the Hoenn Champion. The blast it created when it hit the ground flung him forward, causing him to crash into one of the many, many stones around the area. It blew Frita across the ground too, so that the two ended up landing right next to each other. Everyone else scattered.

 

Steven’s Pokemon jumped to his defense, attacking the Legend without another thought. They all managed to avoid an Oblivion Wing and circled the Pokemon, trying to confuse it. They weren’t exactly successful, and the Pokemon flapped its wings, flinging the Pokemon all over the place. Jethro’s Rayquaza dove at Yveltal, but the Pokemon fired a Dark Pulse directly at it, hitting it in the face. It roared and flared backward, twisting and writhing. Metagross fired a Flash Cannon, but it didn’t do very much, and the Pokemon couldn’t use Hammer Arm from the distance it was at. Yveltal knocked it away with a swat of its huge wing, taking out Aerodactyl with it. Skarmory screeched, launching a Rock Slide attack but Yveltal took off before it could hit.

 

It dove straight at Steven, intending to grab him, but it was stopped by Steven’s tiniest Pokemon. Little Carbink had fired a Moonblast directly at Yveltal which forced it to pull up suddenly to avoid being hit. “Carbink!” Steven’s Pokemon yelled in a high pitched little voice. Even when it was angry, it was absolutely adorable and that made it much underestimated. With its Fairy and Rock Typing, it was a perfect match for a battle against Yveltal. It couldn’t fly, but it didn’t need to. “Carbink, Carbink!” 

 

It hopped angrily above the ground, challenging the Legendary. Yveltal screeched and fired an Oblivion Wing at it. Carbink stood its ground, firing a Moonblast in retaliation. The collision caused a large explosion and Carbink launched a Stone Edge attack. Yveltal just managed to dodge it, and dove in for a Wing Attack. Carbink ducked out of the way, its little blue eyes widening. “Carbink! Carbink-bink!” It called after the massive Pokemon. It was taunting Yveltal. The Pokemon of Destruction dove in for another attack, and that put it right where Carbink wanted it. The little floating rock unleashed another Stone Edge. It was too close for Yveltal to dodge, and it ended up being a direct hit.

 

Carbink cheered, proud of itself. But its pride was short lived. The attack had hurt Yveltal, but one attack wasn’t enough to take it down and it hopped to its feet, screeching at Carbink. As the little Pokemon prepared a Moonblast, Yveltal swatted it aside as though it were nothing. Carbink went flying, bouncing off of several rocks and other things until it finally came to a halt. It looked worse for wear after that, and it floated feebly up off the ground, its ears drooping and its eyes squeezing shut. 

 

Yveltal began advancing on Steven again, who was practically helpless. He may have gotten over his concussion, but the bruises from getting hit by Charlie were still there, and he had hit the rock right on them. They had practically crippled him. He was in so much pain he could barely move. Metagross made a desperate effort to stop the enraged Pokemon, but Yveltal blocked the Flash Cannon with its wing. It rounded on the approaching Pokemon, all of whom were trying to stop it, and flapped its wings. It used Whirlwind, flinging the Pokemon and their trainers back.

 

It turned, glaring at Steven. It had every intent on ending him. It raised its head back, readying to crush him with its massive beak. As it dove forward, Steven looked at Frita. He reached a hand out to touch her and muttered something that no one else could hear. Yveltal was mere feet away when a brilliant wall of red-pink flame shot up in front of them. Yveltal screeched in surprise and hopped backward, giving an angry squawk. 


	12. Calm After the Storm

Steven moaned, blinking. Everything was fuzzy and he sat in a daze, not entirely sure where he was or what was going on. As he blinked, the fog in his brain slowly lifted until his eyes widened and he looked around frantically. He was in a hospital room, lying in a bed. He sucked in a breath and winced. He hurt all over, and his memory was fuzzy.

 

_ The last thing he remembered was Yveltal attacking, and whispering to Frita. And then there had been a giant wall of flame. Yveltal hadn’t liked that, it had stopped the Legendary’s attack. He remembered seeing words singed onto the ground. They had said ‘I HEAR YOU.’ in all capital letters. _

 

As he regained more and more of his senses, he became aware of a painful weight on his chest. He looked down, still a little groggy, and his eyes widened. Frita was curled up against him, bright as day and obviously alive.  _ ‘What?! How?! Am I dead?!’  _ He shook his head, rubbing his eyes.  _ ‘I-I must be seeing things. Yeah, that must be it, right?’  _ He opened his eyes, but Frita hadn’t moved. She was still there, and she was HEAVY...and warm. He tried his best to sit up, but he couldn’t move her weight. 

 

Just as he was thinking he must most certainly be dead and in heaven, Wallace entered his field of view. “My, my. You’re awake faster than we thought you would be. How you feeling, honey?” Steven groaned. “Ok, that settles it. I’m obviously not in heaven if your sorry butt is here. I can’t be down below if Frita is here though, so I guess that means I’m not dead at least.” Wallace gave him an indignant glare. “Hey!” Steven waved his comment off dismissively before he could say more. “Wallace, what happened?” There was a voice from the corner. It was Jethro. He and his friends had been there the whole time and Steven just hadn’t noticed them. “It was unbelievable.” 

 

_ After Steven had passed out, everyone else had noticed the words written on the ground too. “I HEAR YOU.” They had wondered, where had they come from, and how? And then, they had appeared again. “I HEAR YOU, AND I  _ **_WILL_ ** _ PROTECT YOU!” Then, the most amazing thing happened. Frita had been consumed by the same red-pink flames that had created the wall stopping Yveltal. It had screeched again, flapping its wings indignantly. After that, Frita had risen from the flames like a Moltres, and it had been beautiful. Her entire coloring had changed. The red had remained, but the pale orange had been replaced by hot pink. _

 

_ She had roared, a loud and powerful sound, quite unlike the noise she had made before. She had turned on Yveltal, the Pokemon firing another Oblivion Wing. Frita countered it with a blast of her own, and the resulting explosion had flung the Legendary back. Frita had roared again, and then words had come from her open mouth. “YOU ARE NO MATCH FOR ME, PITIFUL BIRD. CALM YOURSELF AND LEAVE.”  But Yveltal had only screeched back at her, firing another Oblivion Wing, followed immediately by a Dark Pulse. They had bounced off of Frita harmlessly. _

 

_ She had taken a step forward, and swatted the Pokemon sideways. Before it could hit anything, a molten hot rock had shot out of the ground and hit it straight in the back, flinging it upward. As it came back down, Frita had smashed it into the ground with her powerful tail, before picking it back up again. She squeezed it with her tail, and it screeched until it had passed out. After a few minutes, it had regained consciousness, but it was different somehow. The furious glow had left it, and it blinked placidly. It cooed at Frita, and she put it down. It ruffled its feathers and gave a gentle squawk after looking at Steven. _

 

_ Everyone had heard a telepathic response. “I heard that.” At first they had turned to Frita, but Jethro had stated that it wasn’t her voice. Which was true, it was feminine, but it sounded nothing like her. Jethro’s female friend had asked, “Then who-?” Frita had spoken again after that. “IT IS XERNEAS, THE POKEMON OF LIFE.” Yveltal had cooed at her again, bowing its head. Then it had turned to the grunts, squawking angrily, and had proceeded to chase them back and forth, using its wings to walk, making it move like a giant Darmanitan. After a while, it had managed to catch and carry off a particularly pudgy Team Flare member who had screamed pitifully when Yveltal and flown off with him.  _

 

_ The blonde woman, Elaine, had laughed heartily. “Serves you right!” They had all turned on her, drawing their swords, but Frita had stopped them. “Don’t. No more pain, not today.” She had shrunk back down to humanoid form and had taken a tired breath. After learning Elaine’s story, and discovering her name was actually Lainey, they had immediately turned to question Frita who was helping Wallace get Steven onto Charlie’s back. Frita had promised to talk more after they got Steven to the hospital in Anistar City. _

 

_ The doctors had been hopeful for Steven’s recovery, stating that the injuries weren’t actually that bad, and that he had probably just passed out from the pain or the physical stress of the whole situation. Unfortunately for Frita, a homicidal maniac with a giant weapon and deadly Legendary Pokemon hadn’t kept the snoopy press away, and they had just HAD to poke their noses in where they didn’t belong. A news crew had filmed Frita’s recovery from stone, and her change in size and form. She had been heavily reprimanded by the entirety of the Pokemon League, but being the kindhearted soul that he was, the Prof. had let her keep her job, much to the shock of many Regions.  _

 

_ He had stated that Frita’s abilities had never had anything to do with her position in the League, and that it had nothing to do with how massive her Charizard was. He had confirmed this himself by both battling with Frita, and having her Charizard’s DNA tested. It had revealed that Charlie had a perfectly natural mutation that happened in multiple Pokemon before him, including a Claydol, a Jigglypuff and a Gengar.  _

 

_ Frita had done an interview after that, as reporters had swarmed the hospital which had caused obvious problems for the emergency staff. It was the only way she could think of to get rid of them. She had explained on national television what exactly she was, and how it had affected her life, among answering other quite frankly stupid questions.  _

 

“And that’s what happened. We asked Frita, but she had no idea how she had come back to life. Actually, she told us that she had been somewhere dark, really  **really** dark. She said she had heard your voice, and then a light had appeared and she had followed it. Even she really had no idea what was going on,” Jethro finished. “So yeah, you actually didn’t miss too much,” he added with a smile.

 

Steven blinked. “Strange, but I wouldn’t say that. It looks like I missed a lot!” There was a cheerful voice in the doorway. “Indeed!” It was Sycamore. “How do you feel?” Steven shot him a  _ “You’re really going to ask THAT?”  _ look. “Like I got hit by a bus, and then a train...and then another bus.” Jethro chuckled from where he was sitting, shaking his head. Wallace grinned mischievously. “Well I’LL be here to take care of you.” As he leaned forward to mess with Steven, who was none too happy at Wallace’s joke, he was met with a hand to the face. It startled him, and he was pushed backward as Frita sat up. She stretched like a Liepard and yawned before plopping her head back down on Steven’s chest. He winced and moaned a tiny bit. “Ow.” Frita looked up at him, smiling. Her little stump of a tail wagged happily. “How did you even manage to get them to let you on the bed?” 

 

Frita smiled. “I’m a three ton giant fire monster. I have my ways.” Jethro failed to stifle a laugh, doubling over. Steven rolled his eyes, wondering what it was she had pulled on the staff to scare them into letting her do what she wanted. Frita snuggled up to him, letting out a strange little rumbly almost purring noise. Steven’s face flushed immediately, out of instinct more than actual embarrassment. Frita giggled and curled up, quite content as she latched onto his arm and used it as a pillow. Steven let out a grunt and struggled. “Dear ARCEUS woman! You weigh a ton and that HURTS. Stop it!” Frita’s eyes opened immediately and an irritated look crossed her face. “Steven, sweetie. You know I care about you, but be aware that I can crush you at any time.”

 

“And that’s what you get for insulting a woman’s weight,” Jethro muttered. “Learned that the hard way at one point…” Steven sighed. Clearly there was no way he was getting rid of Frita at this point. He smiled, despite the fact that she was crushing his arm. It was good to have her back, and he was more relieved that he cared to admit. Losing her, even for that brief time, was more painful than anything he had gone through before, and he didn’t want to think about what life would have been like if she hadn’t somehow come back to him. It suddenly crossed his mind that he had no idea what happened to Lysandre, Alain, and Marin. When he asked, he was told that Lysandre would be spending life in prison. 

 

The reformed Team Flare Scientists, along with Sycamore had managed to cure Marin’s Chespin, which had brought Alain back after he had learned of Lysandre’s plan and that he no longer needed to collect Mega Evolution data. Despite this, he had decided to keep his goal of being the strongest, and had asked Frita in person to test his Charizard against another of her Pokemon. She had agreed, having many Pokemon that Mega Evolved, but had put off the test until Steven was healthy enough to leave the hospital.

 

Steven sat back with his head on his pillow. All he wanted to do now was sleep and rest. After a few days, his father actually came to the hospital in person. It was quite a surprise, because Mr. Stone rarely had enough time to even sleep, let alone leave Devon Co.’s Main Office to travel to another region. He smiled, stating that he just happened to be thinking of expanding so that his technology was sold in Kalos too, after Lysandre was put in prison and all of his tech was taken off the market. Steven shook his head. That was just like his father, never one to miss a business opportunity. “Ok, Dad. If you say so.” And then Mr. Stone had made a crack about Steven and Frita having a relationship. Steven was mortified, but thankfully, Frita had stepped out to get some food. Steven couldn’t help but find it funny. She seemed to eat even MORE now than she had before, if that was even possible. She had already stolen his Jello four times. He was certain she could out eat a Snorlax if she wanted to.

 

After another day, Steven was finally released from the hospital. He wasn’t exactly well enough to fly back to Hoenn, but he could walk around for a good while. Frita had insisted that he, along with everyone else, stay at her house there in Anistar City. They had good food and good times while they were there, and Jethro even got mobbed by her Slowpoke at one point. Except for Pokey, who was TOO slow even for that. Nevertheless, what he lacked in mobility he made up for in brain power. He was slow, that was for sure, but he was smarter than all the other Slowpoke combined. Odd really, considering. He had instead gone straight for Steven, who had hefted him into his lap and given him a good pet behind the ears unlike the other Slowpoke, who had been so excited to meet Jethro that he didn’t know which one to pet first.

 

They had spent one day wandering all over the city, as a big group. They had even gone to the beach and gone swimming, except for Steven, who wasn’t quite up to it yet. They had visited all the best restaurants, and had perused all the local shops. They had even gotten into a race with their Pokemon at some point. Archaic had won, and the Lucario had come in close second. All three of them tied. Next had come Frita, her unnatural strength giving her an advantage. After that came Skarmory, and then Aerodactyl. Steven and his Carbink and Aggron had come in last, but then, he hadn’t even tried to run. He was still sore just walking, and the whole trip had been a bit much for him. However, he had done far less than everyone else, and by sunset they were all bushed. Frita made them dinner, and a tasty one at that. And then everyone but Steven and Frita had basically passed out. Even whiny Keith had shown back up and gone out on the town with everyone. For a best friend, he was hardly ever around, but he always seemed to be there when Frita needed him regardless.

 

Frita had insisted that they take an after dinner walk, while everyone else was sound asleep, and after a large amount of pestering, Steven had agreed.  _ ‘And now I know how the Pokemon in Snap feel.’  _ He shook his head and sighed, following her. He had his hands in his pockets and wasn’t wearing his suit jacket. Even this time of year, Anistar was pleasantly cool, and he enjoyed the light breeze that blew through the town. They stopped and sat on a bench in front of the sundial for a little bit, and Steven turned to look at Frita. She was watching the last golden orange rays of the sun sink below the horizon.

 

As Steven stared at her, he could see the light of the sun reflected in her glowing green eyes, and it suddenly occurred to him that she must have some kind of connection with it. She always watched it rise, and always watched it set, and rarely was she awake when the sun wasn’t up. He pondered this, his eyes trailing away from her face. He blinked, seeing her hair in the setting sun. It had an orange glow, but even so he could see that there were ever so subtle dark pink highlights in it. He tilted his head, wondering why it was that she had suddenly changed color like she had. He blinked, suddenly realizing that Frita had now begun to stare at him too. He blushed, and she smiled at him. “You ok?” He nodded. “Y-Yeah. I’m ok.” She smiled again, and he could see that happiness touch her eyes. That look. That was his favorite look. That contented smile, like she couldn’t ever be happier if she tried. He wished she could always have that look. 

 

She stood, as the sundial was touched by the last orange light of the sunset. Steven got up too, and came to stand next to her. She turned to face him as he did, simply out of habit. She instinctively looked directly at things that moved. She couldn’t really help it. Steven turned when she looked at him, mistakenly thinking she was about to speak. As he did, he noticed a certain full of himself, pain in the butt Sneasel inching his way toward them. Sweetpea snickered quietly and as Steven was about to say something, he was pushed from behind at the same moment that Sweetpea pushed Frita. They collided, albeit a bit uncomfortably, and their lips met. Steven’s eyes widened in surprise, staring straight at Frita’s identical expression. 

 

They parted awkwardly and both whirled, Steven glaring at his Metagross, who simply stared at him with a happy expression. “Met-TA!” It nudged him and he swatted at it. “Metagross, stop it!’ He hissed, his face bright red. Frita on the other hand, had flung her Sneasel into a bush as punishment. She turned back to Steven, about to apologize when their eyes met again. She flushed heavily, the first time Steven had ever seen her blush, and he couldn’t help but blush again himself. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly and Frita fidgeted a little. Steven closed his eyes.  _ ‘Metagross you...you..! I hate you! Oh, Shuppet!’  _ Steven lurched forward, grabbing Frita, whose surprise was more than clear, and pulled her to him. He kissed her passionately. After a few heartbeats, she melted into the kiss, her eyes sliding slowly closed. 

 

Over on the bridge, behind a few bushes there was a muffled “YES!” Jethro had followed them, along with Wallace, who was smiling contentedly. Apparently, he had no doubts that the two of them would get together eventually. He strolled casually toward the plaza, Jethro darting forward to grab him and drag him back. Unfortunately, Wallace was as fluid as the water he loved so much, and he easily twisted out of the way of Jethro’s hand. He jogged backward, facing Jethro and snickering. As he entered the very end of the plaza, he let out a low whistle, which immediately caught Steven’s attention. As he and Frita’s kiss ended, Frita flushed and gave a look like she wanted to go crawl into a hole and die. Steven rounded, not even needing to look to know who it was. “WALLACE, YOU SON OF A BIDOOF!” He turned and pounded across the plaza, and Wallace snickered like a schoolkid and ran at full sprint across the bridge, right past Jethro, who was nearly flung over the railing and into the ocean below. Frita jogged up and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him back as Steven caught up to and tackled Wallace to the ground.

 

The two of them tussled and fought, and there was a lot of shouting and hair pulling. “They’re acting like little girls.” Jethro mumbled, grinning like an idiot. Frita laughed heartily. “They always do. They always do…” She turned toward the ocean, it was growing dark now. Steven and Wallace were still fighting, and she walked over and pulled them apart, setting them down and smacking them on the back of the head. “Stop it!” She sounded angry, but she couldn’t hide her smile. As the four of them began to walk away, Frita stopped, punching Wallace in the arm. “OW! That HURT you know!” Frita looked at him. “GOOD! It was SUPPOSED TO! THAT’S for ruining the moment you jerk!” Steven snickered, putting an arm around her, and Wallace whined a little while Jethro just shook his head and laughed, and they headed home.


	13. Epilogue - Trouble on the Horizon

The next morning, Jethro and his cousin Valin and friend Elly bade them farewell. “Well, sorry to have to just up and leave like this, but I just gotta explore more of this region and learn more about Mega Evolution!” Valin and Elly rolled their eyes and Elly mouthed “You know how he is.” Frita giggled and nodded. “Well it was good to see you again.” They hugged. “I’m trusting you with this Sinister Division stuff for now. Call me if you need me.” She winked and Jethro left, waving as they hopped on Rayquaza’s back. Sycamore went back to his lab, and Alain hung around to have Charizard battle Frita’s Mega Lopunny. It was an intense battle, and Charizard had the upper hand for the most part.

 

BunBun, almost all her Pokemon had nicknames, was a dedicated and tough Pokemon. After launching several kicks, he used Dig to avoid Charizard’s Steel Wing. Just when it looked like he might win, Charizard launched a Dragon Claw straight at the ground as BunBun tried to use Dig. He took the hit straight to the face, ending in a quick KO. Frita smiled, and helped her Pokemon to his feet. He seemed disappointed, but Frita praised him extensively, and he seemed to cheer up after that. “Lopunny!” He called. Frita had been watching Charizard the whole time. She smiled. It seemed like Alain was more motivated when Marin was watching, and in turn that made Charizard more motivated too. 

 

“I don’t normally do this, as no Charizard can compare to mine so I’m a little over critical, but you did good. And I mean that.” Alain nodded. “You need to work on your battlefield strategy a little more. Your Charizard isn’t Charlie. He can’t just wipe the floor with anything that comes his way using head on attacks. You need to focus more and find your opponent’s weak spots. That being said, it’s very impressive that you beat my Lopunny.” Frita leaned down to whisper in his ear. “And I know Marin was impressed too.” Alain’s eyes widened and he blushed, coughing. Frita snickered and winked at him. “Having her around helps, you know. You should let her travel with you,” she whispered. “Besides, who better to watch and make sure she doesn’t fall down a pit or roll down a hill?” The girl sure was clumsy.

 

Alain sighed and nodded, and went to talk to her. She jumped up and Frita could hear her yell “Really?!” She jumped right at Alain, forcing him to catch her, and he looked away with mock irritation on his face. His Charizard smiled. After a while, they began to travel the region too, and eventually Frita got a postcard from Marin talking all about their adventures. Keith went on to do a whole concert tour of Kalos, and Frita was there to play guitar for his Pokemon band. The band really was amazing. He had two Pikachu on an oversized keyboard, who would dance to play it. There were three Golem, who would be punched by a trio of Whollopby to sound like drums. They were Mara Pokemon, and looked like a kangaroo standing on its toes. They had big red paws like Boxing gloves in this form, and were Fighting Type Pokemon. Next, there were three Exploud, whose portholes produced all the brass and woodwind instrument sounds. They had lights set up in the portholes to make them glow. 

 

Any bell or chime sounds were produced by a pair of Chimecho and Chingling, along with a Klefki. Finally, Keith’s backup singers were a flock of Chatot and their evolved form, Symphot. There were four Symphot, two male and two female. They were larger than Chatot, with large green patches on their chests and white feathers in the shape of a bowtie at their necks. The rest of them was black, with red tail feathers in the shape of a conductor’s baton. Finally they had large crests on their heads in the shape of music notes and yellow eyes. The females had feathers that hung down one side of their face, and their eyes were more feminine. They could perfectly copy anyone’s voice so long as they heard even the tiniest sound from the person. It was incredible. Frita’s Sneasel played an extra, special made guitar, and her Dragonial played the cymbal. The Pokemon was an alternate evolution of Dragonair, and quite pretty. She used her tail to whack the cymbals at the perfect moments.

 

Since he was still recovering, the League gave Steven some time off from being the Champion, and sent in the replacement Champion that was on standby for emergencies such as this. It turned out to be Juan, Wallace’s mentor. Fortunately, the Pokemon League challenge was a while away from starting, so Wallace didn’t need a replacement right away. He spent a good deal of time with Steven and Frita, having fun and being an all around pain. He poked fun at them whenever the opportunity arose, and Steven was on the verge of beating him when he finally left. 

 

However, he had taken the chance to have Frita model some of his newest fashion designs while he was there, and they had spent several nice mornings having tea and cake together while Steven was still asleep. Despite how much of a bother he had been, Frita had to admit it was nice to talk to him. She had needed his levelheaded opinions and his knowledge of Steven’s personality. She knew Steven well, but he and Wallace had been friends since they were little. If anyone knew the real him, it was Wallace. “Just trust your heart, honey. You can’t go wrong with that steering you.” Frita frowned. “But Wallace-” He held up a hand. “Ah, ah, ah.” He waved a finger. “Trust me on this. You’ll be just fine, I promise.” Frita sighed and nodded. They had spent a good few months in Kalos (fortunately Frita could run the Pokémon League from anywhere so it wasn’t a problem for her), but it was getting close to Christmas time and she had wanted to know what to get Steven for a gift.

 

Wallace just smiled at her as if he knew what she had wanted to ask. “Trust me,” he repeated. She nodded, a little more sure of herself. Wallace took a sip of tea and daintily cut off and ate a piece of cake with a fork. “This really is delicious,” he said between bites. Frita smiled as there was a thump and a moan. Frita closed her eyes, chuckling and shaking her head. “Every time…”  _ ‘Every time, he falls out of bed. Silly boy.’  _ Steven stumbled in a few minutes later. “My, you’re up much earlier than you have been lately. You MUST be feeling better!” Frita remembered that Steven typically got up very early. Not as early as she did, but early nonetheless.

 

Steven looked over at Wallace groggily. “Why won’t you just  **go away** ? Don’t you have other things to do?” Wallace glared at him indignantly. “If that’s how you feel then you’ll be pleased to know I was going to fly back to Hoenn today!” Steven’s eyes widened. “Really?” Wallace gave a grunt and nodded. “Oh...Wallace, I’m sorry. I didn’t…” Wallace stood abruptly and hugged him, startling Steven. “You treat her good,” he whispered. “She really loves you.” Steven hissed back, “I don’t need you to tell me that!” Wallace giggled and then hugged Frita before he left, waving goodbye and petting Pokey, who was sitting on the floor by the door.

 

Frita smiled after him and turned to Steven, giving him a good morning kiss. He smiled, letting out a deep breath through his nose. He had really gotten some flack from the media when they had learned of his and Frita’s relationship. Surprisingly enough, the majority of people still supported him. The reporters had asked him repeatedly what it was like to be in a relationship with someone who wasn’t human and he had simply stated that she was human enough for him. And that was true. She was very close to human the way she was now in practically every way. She had a human heart, and a human mind. Her soul was all its own, unlike any other, but that was part of what he liked about her. 

 

It was true, there were a few things that were hard to deal with, particularly her becoming dead weight when she slept. She was very heavy, and liked to lean on him when she napped. She also didn’t breathe like a human. There was no reassuring rising and falling of her chest when she was asleep. When she was awake, she forced herself to breathe with her lungs, not that it was hard for her to do. 

 

When she was asleep though, her involuntary muscle movements would kick in and she would just absorb air through her skin like a Politoed. Another thing that was difficult for him were the stone plates on her back. She didn’t seem to have any nerves in them, and so if he touched her back where the plates were she was completely unaware of his presence. He really only had to make slight adjustments to his lifestyle to accommodate her though.

 

She made him toast, and waffles with some coffee. It was black, just the way he liked it. They went for a walk after breakfast. Anistar was decorated festively, with ribbons and wreaths and things. Frita frowned. She didn’t remember people of Kalos celebrating this holiday. She figured it must just be a new thing. They walked at a leisurely pace, peeking in shop windows and looking at decorations. Frita was a little antsy, having been unable to find Steven a decent gift as of yet.  _ ‘What do I get him? I mean, he collects stones for a hobby. And his collection is HUGE. I doubt I can find a stone good enough for him that he doesn’t already have.’  _

 

As she walked past another store window, something quite unusual caught her eye. She dove through the door almost immediately, forgetting all about Steven, who hurriedly tried to catch up with her. She was standing at a display case set in front of the store window. The clerk seemed irritated at her for digging through it, but what she pulled out of it was beautiful. It was a good sized, dark stone. It had a dark red sort of glow beneath the surface, not an actual glow, but more a lit from the inside kind of look. It had been polished to perfection, and was oval shaped. Steven’s eyes lit up and he came forward to look at the stone, taking it from Frita before she could protest. He turned it over in his hands. “Stunning...I have absolutely no idea what this is…”

 

The shop’s owner came walking over to them. He was elderly, with a mustache and beard, and used a cane. He wore a plain burgundy suit without the jacket, and seemed to be in fairly good health. “That right there is quite rare, son,” he spoke up, Steven turning to him. “It’s a-,” 

 

“It’s a Core Stone.” 

 

The old man looked at Frita in surprise as she interrupted him and Steven turned to her. “A Core Stone?” Frita nodded. “Yes. It’s the heart of a Golem...that one in particular comes from a Fire Golem...like me…” She looked down at the stone, and a far away look came over her features. Steven touched her on the shoulder. “Frita? Are you ok?” She blinked up at him as though she weren’t quite back from wherever her mind had gone and nodded. “I’m fine.” The old man looked at the two of them with a confused face. Steven gazed at the stone he was holding. He wanted it, and it was beautiful, but it seemed to bother Frita. It bothered him too, for that matter. The heart of an ancient creature, turned into a stone. He handed it back to her and she looked down at it with an intense gaze. Her eyes lit up with a gentle glow and the stone glowed in turn. She stared at it intently, awkward seconds ticking by as the elderly shop owner and Steven stared at her. Finally, she lifted her eyes and the glow faded.

 

Steven raised his eyebrows. “What happened?” Frita blinked at him and an alarmed look came over his face. Tears were running down her cheeks. “I…” She sniffed and Steven came forward to comfort her. He held her tightly, ignoring everyone else in the room, and she stifled a sob. “I was…,” her voice was barely a whisper. “I was watching his memories.” Steven’s eyes widened. “ _ His  _ memories?” She nodded, sniffing. “The Fire Golem. I saw his memories, through his Core Stone.” Steven blinked and looked down at her. “You can do that?” Frita sucked in a breath. “Yes. A Core Stone holds a record of a Golem’s entire life in it.” Steven looked down at the stone she was now cradling in her hands. “If that’s his heart, then he must be dead. Was it a sad life then?” He looked up to see the heartbreaking emotion in her eyes. “Very.”

 

The old man came up and put a hand over Frita’s. “Take it.” She gave him a confused glance. “What?” He nodded at the stone. “Take it. It belongs with you more than it does with me.” She blinked, slowly processing what he was saying and then nodded. “Ok.” She slid the stone carefully into her pocket and she and Steven left the store. It was obvious that what had happened was nagging at him. They stopped so Frita could grab a bite at a cafe and he took a seat at a small window table. When she came back with a croissant and a cup of tea, she could tell what was bugging him. “You want to know what I saw, don’t you?” He turned to her in surprise, his ice blue eyes searching hers for a moment. “I, yes,” he said with a sigh. “There’s a lot about you that I don’t understand yet, and I just…” Frita gave him a gentle smile. “And you just  **have** to know. So curious, just like any ordinary human should be.”

 

She looked down into her teacup. “Fine. I’ll tell you.” She looked him in the eyes and blinked. “I saw-” She was cut off as her PokeTouch rang. She looked down to check the number and frowned. It was Jet. She answered it slowly, “Hello?” Jet’s voice came from the other end. He sounded winded, and worried. “Frita? I need your help. The Sinister Division, they-!” The call was cut off with a resounding screech, like the device on the other end had been broken. “Jet? Jethro?!” Frita looked down at her PokeTouch. The screen read “Dropped Call”. Steven was staring straight at her questioningly, obviously wanting an explanation. “Something’s happened with Jethro. I’m not sure what, but I have a bad feeling about this…”


End file.
